
Class r3 S2^ 
Book I H 3 ^ 



GlpgMJJ'. 



CQFSKIGHT DEPOSUl 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



DISCOVERY 




OF THE 



VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



•♦• ^H* ^ 



BY 



ADOLPHUS M. HART. 







Gaint Conia, £iXo.: 

PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY A. M. HART. 

1852. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, mtne year 1852, by 

A. M. HART, 

in the Clerks office of the District Court of Missouri. 



STEKEOTYPED AT THE ST. LOUIS STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY 
BY A. P. LADEW & CO. 



Printed by T. W. Ustick. 






Ctf^ \ 



PREFICE. 

There being no work of the same compass, in the Eng- 
lish language, devoted to this interesting branch of History, 
and it being especially intended for the use of Academies 
and schools, the author might have dispensed viriththe ne- 
cessity of furnishing a preface to make the general reader 
acquainted with the character and object of the publication. 
He deems it necessary, however, to remark, that the fol- 
lowing pages comprise an abstract of all that has been writ- 
ten in the books and manuscripts that are extant, relating 
to the early history of this part of the American Continent. 
The subject is one, which will no doubt be hereafter more 
fully developed, as' the works of other writers are brought 
to light. In the mean time he has been obliged to rely 
chiefly on those sources of information, which are found in 
the scarce French works, that have been published on this 
subject, as well as in a few of the manuscripts of the ear- 
ly discoverers of the valley of the Missisippi, to which he 
has been permitted to have access. 

St. Louis, February, 1852. 

Adolpiius M. Haet. 



HISTORY 



OF THE 



ISCOVERY 



OF THE 



VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI: 



HISTORY 

OF THE 

DISCOVEEY OF THE 
VALLEY OE THE MISSISSIPPI. 

There are many historical associations, which cluster 
around the ancient denizens of Canada, in their efforts 
to colonize this section of the American Continent, and 
to rescue it from the savage tribes, who wandered in its 
pathless deserts. Canada was the gateway, through 
\vhich the pioneers of civilization entered, to disclose to 
the world the rich and exhaustless treasures of the West, 
or rather it may be likened to the portal of a mansion, 
through which admission was gained to the inner cham- 
bers, ornamented with every production of nature, and 
disclosing to the view, in their gaudy array, pictures, 
which had never been dreamt of, in the wildest efforts of 
the human imagination. The poor and ignoble Colonist, 
who emigrated in the seventeenth century, from the 

hills and valleys of his native country, with his axe in 

7 



8 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

his hand, and his gun on his shoulder, to clear the forest 
and drive away the red-man from those paths, which 
had been familiar to him from his infancy, exhibits to the 
view of the philanthropist of the present day, an exam- 
ple of courage and energy, of fortitude amidst danger, 
and of heroism in his trials, which marks not the course 
of the modern adventurer. Changeable as are the cir- 
cumstances of human life, the Canadian colonist remains 
at the present day, as unchanged as ever. No longer is 
he required to wage an exterminating warfare, against 
the aboriginal tribes of the country, no longer does he 
hunt " the wild beast fi'om his lair,''' but now w^ith his 
bible in one hand and his axe in the other, religion goes 
hand in hand with civilization, and wherever one sees 
the boundaries of the primeval forest receding from his 
view^, there he observes the glittering spires of the Parish 
Church, reflecting the rays of the sun in the firmament 
of heaven, and betokening the soothing influence of re- 
ligion, over a moral and an industrious people. 

Nor can we withhold our meed of praise from those 
French missionaries, who took their departure from Que- 
bec, and travelled amongst all the Indian tribes, from 
Hudson's Bay, on the one hand, to the countries along 
the shores of the Mississippi, on the other. History has 
commemorated in bright and glowing colors, whatever 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 9 

events transpired, during the march of the Crusaders to 
rescue the Holy land from the power of the Saracen, and 
here the valiant v^arrior and hero was accompanied by 
armed hosts, bent on achieving their object and having 
the means to do so ; but with the missionary who stepped 
beyond the bounds of civilization, and wandered through 
trackless deserts, (his only compass, the blazeed bark of 
the pine-tree ; his only food, the fortuitous product of 
the chase,) history has not done justice to the noble 
philanthropy, by which they were animated, nor to their 
ardent devotion for the progress of science and religion, 
amongst the benighted nations of the earth. The Cross 
was the emblem of both the Crusader and the mission- 
ary, but there must have been something sad and touch- 
ing, in the effect, which this religious emblem produced 
on the minds of the Savages, in the midst of the sombre 
and silent forests of the New World, when it could dis- 
arm their fierce heart-s and render them sensible to the 
liveliest feelings of emotion. There must be something 
soothing in rehgion, when it could mollify the wild pas- 
sions of man, in the savage state, and make him succumb 
to its influences. It was owing to the existence of these 
feelings, that the French missionary was able to estab- 
lish those friendly relations, which were afterwards en- 
tertained towards him, by the denizens of the forest. 



10 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

The religious doctrines which he inculcated, contributed 
to draw closer the ties, which connected him wdth his 
neophytes. Hence the facilities, which he had to pene- 
trate from one cabin to another, from one nation to ano- 
ther, even in countries the most distant. Whether w^e 
regard their efforts, as connected Vv-ith the cause of sci- 
ence or religion, or as tending to develope to the inhabi- 
tants of Europe an example of energy and activity in 
the cause of human civilization, the French missionary 
of the seventeenth century will always be an object of in- 
terest to the student of American history, and will al- 
ways be considered, as having contributed his share in 
the regeneration of the aboriginal tribes of this Conti- 
nent, from the galling chains of superstition and igno- 
rance, by which they were surrounded. The warriors 
and statesmen of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth fiule 
into insignificance, when put in comparison, with what 
the genius of a Colbert and a Talon planned, or what 
the energy and activity of an Allouez and a Marquette 
accomplished. "Do you not know," said the interpreter 
of an Indian tribe to these missionaries, "do you not 
know," said he, " that these distant nations never spare 
strangers, that the wars, which they carry on, infest 
their frontiers with hordes of robbers ; that the grand 
river (meaning the Mississippi,) abounds in monsters, 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 11 

who devour men and animals, and that the excessive 
heat there causes death." " We know that," said they, 
*' we know all, but by the decree of Providence, we 
have been appointed, as humble missionaries, in the ser- 
vice of God, to disseminate His Holy doctrines, amongst 
countless tribes, in the deserts of America, and with His 
will, we shall do our duly." 

Long before what is now known, as "the West" was dis- 
covered, several mis^ionaries had penetrated beyond the 
hunting grounds of the Ottawas and the Abenakies, and 
had established themselves, along the borders of Lake 
Huron. The Fathers Breboeuf, Daniel, Jogues, Raim- 
bault and several other members of their order, had es- 
tablished villages along the shores of that Lake, amongst 
others. Saint Joseph, Saint Michael, Saint Ignace and 
Sainte Marie. The latter, placed at the outlet of Lake 
Huron into Lake Erie, was for a long time, the central 
point of the various missions, in that distant part of the 
country. Later, in the year 1671, the scattered tribes 
of the Hurons, fatigued of wandering from country to 
country, fixed themselves at Machilimackinac,* a place 



* The name of this locality is derived from a small Island form- 
erly celebrated in those Countries, from the heio;ht of its banks, 
which might be seen, at a distance of twelve miles. It is situated 
at the jimction of Lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. 



12 HISTORY OF THE VAL2.EY 

situated on the shores of Lake Superior. This was the 
first establishment, founded by an European, in the State 
of Michigan. The Indians who were found therej re- 
ceived from the French, the name of '^ Sauteurs,'' or 
" Leapers," on account of their proximity to the Falls 
of Sainte Marie, known as the " Sault Sainte Marie J' 
These Indians belonged to the Algonquin Tribe. 

In the space of thirteen years, (from 1634 to 1647,) 
this extensive territory was visited by eighteen French 
missionaries, besides others attached to their ministry, 
who, animated by zeal in the cause of civilization, lent 
their services to their clerical brethren, in order to reclaim 
these savages from the depths of ignorance and supersti- 
tion into which they had cast themselves. The Five 
Nations, comprising the Iroquois, one of the fiercest 
tribes that inhabited those countries, were located to the 
north of Cataraqui, between the River Ottawa and Lake 
Ontario, but nearer the latter, and the travellei^ had to 
pursue their route across that part of the country, which 
was watered by the tributaries of the Ottawa, the river 
Akuanagusin, marked on the old charts, being one of 
those tributaries. At that period, the South of Lake 
Erie, beyond Buffalo was almost unknown to either the 
voyageurs or the missionaries. It might be interesting 
to particularize those sections, on the borders of Lake 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 13 

Erie or Oswego, (as it is marked on an old chart, in the 
possession of the writer,) which were then inhabited by 
the Indian tribes, but the geographers of those days in 
Europe do not seem to be very remarkable for accuracy 
in fixing the localities of Indian settlements. Fort San- 
doski, (Sandusky) now the harbour, where is the termi- 
nation of the Railroad, connecting Lake Erie with the 
Ohio, is marked on this map, and the euphonious appel- 
lations of Tuscarora, Mingos, Kittawing, Schohorage, 
Fort Mohican and the Cross of Holfway, need only be 
mentioned, as indicating those parts of the Western States, 
now teeming with millions of human beings, devoted to 
the arts of agriculture and commerce, and supplying the 
world with the products of a soil, which a bounteous 
Providence has given them, to promote the prosperity 
and happiness of their fellow-men. In the year 1640, 
the Fathers Chaumonot and Breboeuf, completed the 
survey of the valley of the Saint Lawrence, from the foot 
of Lake Superior to the Ocean. About this period the 
two missionaries Charles Raimbault and Isaac Jogues 
left Canada, to visit Lake Huron, and after a pleasant 
voyage, in which they were struck with the picturesque- 
ness of the scenery along the shores, and amongst the 
islands of Lake Huron, they arrived in seventeen days 
at Sault Sainte Marie, where they met with a friendly 

2 



14 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

reception from about two thousand Indians, assembled 
there. As they advanced on their journey, the bounda- 
ries of the American Continent seemed to recede from 
them, and they learnt the names of numerous Indian 
tribes, who, it was said, inhabited the South and West, 
and amongst others, the " Sioux," whose hunting grounds 
were situated at a distance of several leagues from Lake 
Superior. They heard also, of several tribes of warri- 
ors, who lived by the products of the soil, but whose 
race and languages were unknown to them. — "Thus," 
observes an American author, "from the religious zeal 
of the French, a cross was erected on the borders of 
Sault Ste Marie, and on the confines of Lake Superior, 
from whence they saw the lands of the Sioux, in the 
valley of the Mississippi, five years, before Elliott of 
New England had addressed even a single word to the 
Indians, who were but six miles from the harbor of 
Boston." 

It may be said, that at this period (1646), the safety 
of the French possessions in America, depended chiefly 
on the efforts of the missionaries to preserve peace, 
which they succeeded in doing with all the neighboring 
Indian tribes, with the exception of the Iroquois. The 
small French Colony, on the banks of the Saint Law- 
rence, situated at such an immense distance from the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 15 

mother country, with limited resources, and scarcely food 
to eat would have been annihilated, had it not have been 
for the friendly alliance, which these missionaries had 
been able to contract with the native tribes. The Five 
Nations had already boasted, that they would soon drive 
Montmagny^ and the French to the sea, from whence 
they came. But the bravery and the courage of these 
men, who, with the breviary hanging around their necks, 
and the Cross in their hands, penetrated the innermost 
recesses of the forest, gave these people a lofty idea of 
the power and the resources of the nation, to which 
they belonged. There they w^ere, from the shores of 
Hudson's Bay, to the gulf of Saint Lawrence and the 
forests of Michigan, engaged day and night, in the ac- 
complishment of their high and lofty purposes, anima- 
ting, encouraging and rewarding those, who were dis- 
posed to be friendly with them, and intimidating those, 
whose hostility they were menaced with. Brought up 
to a life of strict austerity, accustomed to that self-de- 
nial, which was enjoined by the sect, to which they be- 
longed, the terrors of a violent death, at the hands of 
ruthless savages could not deter them from fulfilling the 
solemn trust, whiqh had devolved upon them, and that 



* Governor of New France or Canada. 



16 HISTORY OP THE VALLEV 

very confidence which they had in the holiness of their 
cause, enabled them the more readily to accomplish their 
duty. Providence smiled benignantly on their efforts, 
for had it not been that the tribes, whose alliance was 
courted by the French, feared the hostility of the Iro- 
quois, in all probability they would have rejected the 
overtures of the missionaries and preferred war to peace. 
In the year 1659, (as is related in the narrative of the 
Missionaries), two young voyageurs, or travellers, led 
by curiosity and the spirit of adventure, joined an Al- 
gonquin tribe, and spent the winter on the shores of 
Lake Superior. With their eyes fixed on the immense 
solitudes of the West, and wondering what people in- 
habited those forests, they heard with avidity the glow- 
ing accounts^ by the Huron tribe, of those " Sioux", war- 
riors and they resolved to visit them. They met on 
their route with scattered tribes, w^ho had been dispersed 
by the Iroquois, and they at length arrived in the coun- 
try of the "Sioux," who, to their surprise, tendered to 
them the hand of fellowship. They were a numerous 
tribe, being divided into forty companies, and their man- 
ners, whilst they were unlike those of the Algonquins 
and Hurons, were calculated to impress the minds of the 
travellers with a favorable opinion of them. The 
Historian of New France, states, "that they had an 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 17 

excellent disposition, treated their prisoners with less 
cruelty than other nations, and had some knowledge of 
the existence of a Divinity," These two intrepid ad- 
venturers returned to Quebec, in 1660, escorted by sixty 
Algonquin canoes and Canadian boats, laden with furs 
and peltries. They confirmed the accounts which two 
other Frenchmen, who had gone four years before, as 
far as Lake Michigan, brought back with them, of the 
numerous tribes, who wandered in those parts, and of 
the Kristinos, " whose cabins were raised high ^nougli 
to enable them to see the Great Lakes." 

In the year 1660, Father Mesnard went with the Al- 
gonquins to preach the Gospel to the Ottawas and other 
tribes, on the shores of Lake Superior. He remained 
about eight months, in a bay which he called Sainte The- 
resa, probably the bay of Kiwina, on the south side of 
the Lake, where he subsisted for some time, on acorns 
and the fruit of wild plants. Invited hence by the Hu- 
rons, he took his departure for the bay of Cha-gouia- 
migong or Saint Esprit, on the western side of the Lake, 
whither the Iroquois did not resort, on account of the 
distance and the scarcity of provisions. Whilst Mes- 
nard's compagnon de voyage, (fellow-traveller,) was oc- 
cupied in repairing the canoe, he went into the woods; 
and aevjer xe-appeared. This Priest had a great reputa?- 



18 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

tion amongst the savages, for the sanctity of his clerical 
office, and a few years afterwards, his soutane (a gar- 
ment worn by Priests,) and his breviary were found 
amongst the " Sioux," who preserved them as relics, 
and held them in great veneration. The Indians gener- 
ally were remarkable for their carefulness in preserving 
whatever belonged to these faithful missionaries, for four 
or five years after the death of the Fathers Breboeuf 
and Gamier, whom the Iroquois assassinated, a mission- 
ary found in the possession of those barbarians a testa- 
ment and a prayer-book, which had belonged to them. 
The old chroniclers, such as Charlevoix, Champlain 
and others, do not mention, that they preserved any other 
articles, belonging to the persons they murdered, but the 
books they had with them. These untutored savages 
regarded these books in the light of their better spirits, 
by whose directions these missionaries had been led on- 
wards, in the paths of usefulness they were following. 

We have thus far traced the early discoveries in the 
West, which did not at the period we mentioned (1660) 
extend beyond the hunting grounds of the " Sioux." 
But vague suspicions were then entertained of the ex- 
tent of the country, or the existence of a great River to 
the West, and the accounts which they received from 
the Sioux were so uncertain, that there w^as little in- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 19 

ducement for renewed exertions. However, we are 
about reaching a period (1665) when the spirit of adven- 
ture was again in the ascendant, amongst the old French 
Colonists of America, and when their progress in making 
discoveries in the West is to be regarded with increased 
interest. Hitherto we have been narrating the attempts 
of a few voyageurs and missionaries, to penetrate the 
depths of the American forest, and when we consider 
the almost insurmountable obstacles, which they encoun- 
tered and the melancholy fate which many of them met 
with, at the hands of their ruthless enemies, we cannot 
withhold from them, our meed of praise at the magna- 
nimity they displayed and the heroism they manifested. 
But at this period, it pleased Divine Providence to bring 
other actors on the scenes, other men, who with all the 
self-devotion and courage, which were found in those 
who had preceded them, combined qualities, which suited 
them better for the task they had to perform. Previ- 
ously to the year 1665, it was religious zeal, which 
prompted men to risk their lives, in exploring the wild- 
erness, the propagation of their faith, and the know- 
ledge of God, were surely objects holy enough, to engage 
their attention, but now, to these powerful motives was 
joined the love of science and the desire to enlighten 
Europeans, as to the extent of the American Continent 



20 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

and the resources and capabilities of this extensive 
country. It was in this year, that Father Allouez, a 
man who may be justly regarded as the pioneer amongst 
the discoverers of the West, combining great mental en- 
ergy, with a steadfastness of purpose, for which he was 
remarkable, was sent from Canada to explore the regions 
about Lake Superior. As he approached that vast In- 
land Sea, and observed the Islands, which dotted its 
surface, the fertility of its shores, and the gorgeousness 
and picturesqueness of its scenery, there was something 
in it dazzling to his imagination. He gazed with won- 
der at the numerous objects, which struck his attention, 
and to a mind bent on the pursuits of science, they were 
doubly interesting to him. To his zeal for religion, and 
untiring exertions in the cause of human civilization, 
are we indebted for the first Christian Chapel, which 
was erected in the solitudes of the West. After a short 
sojourn at Sainte Theresa, he arrived at Cha-gouia-mi- 
gong, or Saint Esprit, which had been visited by Father 
Mesnard in 1660. Here, in what is now known as the 
northern part of Wisconsin, at a spot, which was not 
far from the source of the Mississippi, was raised the 
first Temple in the Western wilderness, in which prayers 
were offered up, by the humble missionaries of God, to 
give them strength and confidence in their holy under- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 21 

takings, and to vouchsafe to them His protection in the 
numerous trials they had to undergo. 

Father Allouez preached in the Algonquin language 
to twelve or fifteen tribes, who understood that idiom. 
His reputation spread abroad, and the warriors of differ- 
ent nations left their hunting grounds to visit the white- 
man. The Pouteouatamis, from the borders of Lake 
Michigan, the Outagamis and the Sakis from the deserts 
of the East, the Sioux from the West, the Kristinos 
from the swampy forests of the North, and the Illinois 
of the Prairies, all vied with each other in their eager- 
ness to see and hear the white-man, to learn his dis- 
course and admire his eloquence. It was on one of these 
occasions, that the Sioux informed Father Allouez, that 
they protected themselves from the inclemency of the 
weather, by covering their huts with the skins of wild 
animals, and that they inhabited vast prairies on the bor- 
ders of a great river, which they called " the Missis- 
sippi.'^ It was thus, that the French had the first idea 
of the existence of a great river, the discovery of which 
"was to immortalize Joliet and his companion. 

During the sojourn of Allouez in the country, he pur- 
sued his researches amongst the Indian tribes, towards 
the North, where he discovered the Nipissings, whom 
the fear of the Iroquois, had driven to that distant re- 



22 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

gion. He entered into friendly communications with 
them, and after having travelled two thousand miles, in 
these extensive forests, suffering hunger, want and fa- 
tigue, he directed his steps homewards, overjoyed with 
the result of his expedition. To his discoveries, and 
the information, which he imparted to the French Gov- 
ernment, was the world indebted for the origin of that 
expedition, in which a French Priest and a Canadian 
merchant disclosed to the inhabitants of Europe the ex- 
istence of a river, which to geographers had been hith- 
erto unknown, and which flowing to the ocean, was 
destined to bear on its waters the products of a country, 
unequalled on the face of the globe, for its richness and 
fertility, and affording to the people of the old world, a 
home and an asylum, where they could end their days 
in peace and happiness. 

Historians of modern times have done justice to the 
energy and activity of Joliet and Marquette, and the 
people of these Western States have erected monuments 
to their memory, and named towns and villages, in honor 
of them, but do we not see the hand of Divine Provi- 
dence pointing to the spot, where was to be consumma- 
ted the regeneration of the human race, directing these 
hardy adventurers, as instruments in its service, to avail 
themselves of the time, and the occasion, which were 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 23 

most favorable for the accomplishment of its wise pur- 
poses : never before, had the Indian tribes been brought 
to such a state of submission to their European neigh- 
bours, as they were at that period. Even the Iroquois, 
the fiercest of all the tribes, that wandered about the 
American forests, were on friendly terms with the neigh- 
bouring savages, and peace and unanimity seemed to reign 
in their councils. This was a most auspicious period 
for making further discoveries, and the French Govern- 
ment took advantage of it. 

Allouez, Marquette and Dablon made themselves 
more celebrated for their scientific discoveries, than for 
their services, in the cause of religion. The latter was 
the originator of an expedition in search of the Missis- 
sippi ; his curiosity had been excited by the glowing de- 
scriptions he had heard of the magnificence of the coun- 
try, bordering on its waters, and in 1669, he resolved to 
undertake the journey. But his apostolical labors hav- 
ing interfered with the execution of his design, we hear 
nothing of the result of this expedition, excepting that 
he reached a tract of country, which was not far off, 
from the source of the river. 

Between 1670 and 1672, Allouez and Dablon pursued 
their journey as far as Wisconsin and the northern part 
of the State of Illinois, visiting the Mascoutins, (sup- 



24 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

posed to be fire worshippers,) the Kickapous, and the 
Outagamis, on the border of Fox river, (riviere aux 
Renards) which takes its source to the East of the Mis- 
sissippi. The brave and intrepid Dablon had resolved 
to penetrate, if possible, as far as the ocean, and endea- 
vour to seek out a passage to the countries beyond it. 

Hitherto, Canada had been governed by officers appoint- 
ed by the French government, under the name of Gover- 
nors and Intendants, some of whom had accepted the office, 
more from considerations of pecuniary interest, arising out 
of the profitable nature of the fur-trade, than from any 
other motive, but at this period such men as Colbert and 
Talon ruled the destinies of the New World, they were 
men whose minds imbued from their infancy, with a 
love of science and a desire for the progress of the hu- 
man race, who saw at once the advantages which would 
arise, if the discoveries in the West were pushed for- 
ward with energy. There were few men like Talon 
for enterprise and activity of mind. Shrewd, calcula- 
ting, and a close observer of what was occurring around 
him, he grasped at the idea of the glory, which awaited 
him, should he succeed in his endeavours. His adminis- 
tration of the government of the French Colonies in 
America would be crowned with success, if, whilst he 
was at the head of it, the wealth and commerce of his 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 2^ 

country could be increased by the discovery of the Mis- 
sissippi. These were objects dear to his heart, but 
there were others which were dearer to him. It was 
the desire to extend the bounds of civilization, to aid in 
the development of the resources of this vast country, 
to forward navigation and promote the scientific know- 
ledge of his fellow country-men. Under his administra- 
tion, commerce had revived, emigration had increased, 
and the Indian tribes had learned to respect the power 
and authority of the French government. 

Such was the character of the French Governor, un- 
der whose auspices the first expedition started from 
Quebec, which was successful in discovering the Missis- 
sippi. Some writers say, that Marquette was the origi- 
nator of the project, others attribute it to the genius and 
foresight of Talon, however that may be, Talon selec- 
ted Joliet, a merchant residing in Quebec, who had pre- 
viously travelled amongst the Ottawas, and a man of 
great experience, energy and activity, to accompany the 
French missionary in his voyage of discovery. They 
left Quebec in the year 1673, and reached Fox river in 
safety. They remained some time at Sainte Theresa, 
where they were received with every mark of distinction. 
They asked for two guides, and their request was read- 
ily granted. No other European had ever Avandered hi 



26 HISTORY OP TKE. Ti5&LLEY 

that direction, beyond the precincts of the village. On 
the 10th June, 1673, they took their departure from 
Sainte Theresa, accompanied by live other Frenchmen 
and the two Indians, who acted as guides. They carried 
their bark canoes on their shouklers, to make the short 
Portage (a word in the French language, which sig- 
nifies a carrying place,) which separates- the source of 
Fox river from the river Wisconsin, which flows to 
the West. It was at this point, that the two guides, 
becoming alarmed at the danger of the enterprise, aban- 
doned their fellow-travellers and left them " in an un- 
know^n country, in the hands of Providence," floating 
down a river, in the midst of the profound solitude, 
which surrounded them. At the expiration of seven 
days, they entered the Mississippi, of which they had 
heard so much, and such w^as their joy at the dis- 
covery, that they fell down on their knees and thanked 
God, that he had brought them to their point of des- 
tination. A feeling of awe and solemnity came over 
them, as they sailed down that majestic river, and every 
step they took, they were struck Vrith the magnificence 
of the objects, which surrounded them. In the midst 
of the silent forests of the New World, with buoyant 
hopes, and hearts untrammelled by the cares and sorrows 
of more busy life, they proceeded on their journey, in 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 27 

the expectation of soon finding an outlet to the ocean. 
Nor were they greeted at the commencement of their 
voyage, with the sight of a human being ; there was no 
sign of any habitation, nothing to indicate the probabil- 
ity of their vicinity to the abodes of man ; save the aqua- 
tic birds, that dipped their beaks in the waters, and the 
howl of some ferocious animal prowling for food, there 
was no indication of animal life. They had proceeded 
about sixty leagues, without meeting with any person, 
when all at once, they observed some footsteps on the 
sand, on the right bank of the riyer^ and afterwards, a 
footpath, leading to a prairie. Tkey paused, ere they 
incurred the risk of meeting with an unknown tribe, ia 
the midst of the forest. Yet they had a mission to ful- 
fil, an object to accomplish. The pause was of short 
duration. Joliet and Marquette hazarded the interview. 
Taking the foot-path, they walked six miles, when they 
reached a settlement on the river Moingona, or tke river 
des Moines of the French. They halted ;and cried ou,t 
with a loud voice. Four old men came forth from the 
village, bringing with them the calumet of peace ; they 
received the sti'angers with distinction, — ''We are Illi- 
nois," said they, " we are men, be welcome to our ca- 
bins." In the language of one of our most favored his- 



^8 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

torians, " it was the first time that the soil of Iowa 
^was trodden by the feet of white men." 

The Indians, who had heard of the French, had long 
desired their alliance, as they knew, they were the ene- 
mies of the Iroquois, who were about making predatory 
excursions in their own country. The latter had in- 
spired such a degree of ^terror in the breasts of all the 
Indian tribes, that the Illinois, like the others, courted 
the alliance of the French, who had been able to resist 
their aggressions and thwart their efforts to subdue the 
neighbouring tribes. Joliet and Marquette, with their 
companions having remained a few days the guests of 
this 'friendly people, and having accepted a grand feast, 
which had been prepared for them, took their departure 
very much to the regret of their new allies. The chief 
•of the tribe, followed by several hundred warriors, ac- 
companied them to the river-side, and as a memorial of 
'their friendship, presented Marquette Avith a calumet, or- 
•namented with feathers of different colours, w^hich they 
.assured him would be a safe passport among all the 
neighbouring nations. 

Our hardy adventurers proceeded on their journey, 
and arrived in a short time at the junction of the Mis- 
souri (marked on the old charts "Pe/aYcTiom") with 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 29 

the Mississippi ; they passed the Ohio, or la belle riviere, 
as it was afterwards called by the French, the borders of 
w^hich were then peopled by the Chouanons, or Chaunis. 
The aspect of the country was ^changed,; instead Q-f. ex- 
tensive prairies, they saw nothing but dense forests. 
They found also another race of men, whose language 
they were unacquainted with ; they had left the lands of 
the great Huron and Algonquin famihes, bounded by the 
Ohio to the north, and were now entering the huntincr 
grounds of the Mobilien tribe, of whom the Chickasas 
formed part. The Dahcotas, or the Sioux, inhabited 
the western borders of the Mississippi. Thus, the 
French required interpreters on both sides of the river, 
where two languages were spoken, differing from tho&e 
of the Hurons and Algonquins, with w:hose dialects they 
were acquainted. 

They continued to descend the Mississippi, until they 
reached Arkansas river, near the 33d degree of latitude, 
a tract of country, which, it is said, had been visited by 
the celebrated Spanish traveller, De Soto, The calumet, 
which had been presented to Joliet and Marquette, was 
very serviceable to them, as it was readily received by 
this barbarous people as an emblem of peace, and en- 
sured to our travellers a favorable reception wherever 

thev went. The Indians sent ten men to escort them tp 

3* 



so HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

the village of Arkansas, situated near the mouth of the 
river, where they were met by the Chief and other war- 
riors, who gave them shelter and food. What struck 
the attention of Joliet, was, that they appeared to be a 
richer tribe than the others they had encountered, and 
that they had with -them several implements — amongst 
others, steel axes, which they must have obtained in 
their forays irtto other settlements. He concluded they 
could not be at a very great distance from the Spaniards 
and the Bay of Mexico. The heat of the climate af- 
forded additional evidence of their being far to .the 
Southward ; they were in a country, where abundant 
rains supplied the want of snow, found in more noi^thern 
latitudes. Joliet and Marquette having discovered that 
the river Mississippi did not discharge itself into the Pa- 
cific, but took a Southerly course, and having been dis- 
appointed in not finding an outlet to the ocean, their 
provisions being scanty and with few persons to prose- 
cute their voyage, they resolved on returning and com- 
municating to the Government the result of their dis- 
coveries. 

They journeyed homewards by the Illinois river, and 
arrived safely at an Indian settlement, now the site of 
Chicago. In passing through this territory, now one of 
the most populous and thriving States in the West, they 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 31 

were struck with its great natural advantages, with the 
fertiUty of its soil, the beauty of its scenery, and even 
with the plumage of its wild birds. Marquette, in his 
journal, w^hich has been preserved, says " they discov- 
ered the most fertile country in the world, watered by 
fine rivers, woods, filled with the choicest vinos and 
apple trees, extensive prairies, covered with the buffalo, 
the deer, w-ild fowl ofievery description, and eve?! parrots 
of a particular kind.^' Such w^as the rhapsody in 
which this discoverer of the Mississippi indulged, in his 
description of a country, which at the present day seems 
destined to occupy the proud position of being the gran- 
ary of America, which, for its agricultural capabilities 
and other resources, is the hav^en of .hope to thousands 
of the bonded slaves of the old world, and where are the 
homes and fire-sides of some of the best citizens that 
America possesses. 

All this country was ;then inhabited by the Miamis, 
the Mascouteas, or fire worshippers, the Pouteouato- 
mies and the Kikapous. Allouez and Dablon had al- 
ready visited a portion of it. On his return from the 
Mississippi, Marquette remained with the Miamis, to 
the north of the river Illinois. Joliet proceeded imme- 
diately to Quebec, to communicate the intelligence of 
the discovery to Talon, who, he found, had gone to 



22 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

France. Marquette remained two years amongst the 
Miamis, and in the year 1675 took his departure for 
Mackina, at the head of Lake Michigan. On the jour- 
ney, he disembarked from his canoe at the outlet of a 
small river, on the Eastern side of the Lake, for the pur- 
pose of raising an altar and celebrating mass, after 
which, having requested his companions to wait for him 
a few minutes, they retired to a place at a short distance 
from him, and on their return >they found him dead. 

Like Mesnard and others who had preceded him, the 
discoverer of the Mississippi found his grave in the wilds 
of the West. He was buried in silence at the outskirts 
of a forest, near to the spot where he met with his death. 

History does not mention that France rewarded the 
exertions of its adventurous colonists by any signal 
mark of distinction. Joliet and his companions were 
suffered to remain in obscurity, but if their own coun- 
try neglected its faithful servants, the people of America 
have erected monuments to their memory in the magnifi- 
cent cities, towns and villages, which they have dotted 
over the surface of the country they discovered. Their 
works of art and their progress in science will forever 
distinguish that section of America, the early discovery 
of which was owing to the zeal of a French missionary 
and the intrepidity of a Canadian merchant. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 33 

The news of the discovery of the Mississippi created 
a great sensation in the Colony. The boundaries of the 
American continent, comprising such" a vast extent of 
country were then known to extend towards the sea, 
and although they were satisfied as to the course which 
the Mississippi took, they did not doubt that they should 
find the ocean to the westward of the territories they 
had discovered. These researches had contributed to 
the glory of France, they had added lustre to the events 
of the reign of Louis the Fourteenth, the cause of sci- 
ence had been greatly promoted by the exertions of its 
navigators, further scope had been afforded to the 
studies of its geographers and naturalists, yet the dis- 
coveries were not complete. Until they had traced the 
course of the Mississippi, and had re-commenced the voy- 
age at the point w%ere Joliet and Marquette abandoned 
it, and were satisfied that the Mississippi flowed into the 
Gulf of Mexico, it could not be said that they had com- 
pleted their task, in the exploration of the great Ameri- 
can continent. 

In the year 1667, there emigrated from France to 
Canada, a young man by the name of Robert Cavalier 
de La Salle ; ambitious, intrepid and daring, he came to 
New France with a two-fold object in view, that of 
making a fortune and acquiring a brilliant reputation. 



34 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

He had been educated by the Jesuits, under whose care 
he had been placed from his infancy. Brought up to 
that hfe of austerity and self-denial which was practiced 
by that religious order, having all the enthusiasm and 
courageousness for which they were remarkable, he 
wanted only the opportunity to distinguish himself and 
to prove to the world the indomitable courage with 
which he was possessed. With a cultivated mind and 
enlarged ideas, having a perfect knowledge of human 
nature, and being acquainted with the character, object 
and pursuits of the Indian tribes in alliance with France, 
La Salle was well qualified for the performance of the 
most arduous duty. He listened with attention to Jo- 
liet's account of his expedition to the Mississippi, his 
mind was entranced at the glowing descriptions of that 
traveller, his heart rebounded with joy at the prospect of 
the glory which awaited him, with the glance of au 
eye, he observed the immense field which should occupy 
his future labours, his plans were already formed, that 
project, on the success of which, he based his ideas of 
fortune and future reputation, and which he pursued 
w4th such indomitable energy and such incredible perse- 
verance, even to the day of his death. 

He had come to Canada with the intention of making 
discoveries in the North or West, and epdeavouring to 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



35 



find out a passage to Japan or China, but being poor, 
and this enterprise requiring considerable means to ena- 
ble any person to undertake it, he remained for several 
years in a state of obscurity. At length his talents and 
energy struck the attention of the Count de Frontenac, 
and a new era was dawning upon him. 

Encouraged by Courcelles and Talon, on his arrival 
in Canada, he had established a small office [comptoir), 
where he dealt with the Indians, at a place situated 
about eight miles from Montreal, to which, it is supposed, 
the name of La Chine was given, in satirical allusion to 
the folly of his undertaking,, to discover a north-west 
passage to China. When the news of the discovery of 
the Mississippi reached Canada, La Salle was, as before 
mentioned, at Quebec. Availing himself of the excited 
state of the public mind, caused by this event, he com- 
municated his plans to the Count de Frontenac. He 
flattered himself, that in proceeding towards the source 
of the newly-discovered river, he might find a passage 
to the ocean ; at all events, the discovery of the outlet 
of the Mississippi would not be attended without glory 
and advantage to him. Desirous of availing himself, at 
the same time, of the opportunity it would afford him to 
extend his commercial engagements, he wished to be- 
come possessed of Fort Frontenac, an important place 



36 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

of business in carrying on the fur trade. Strongly- 
recommended by his protector, the Count de Frontenac, 
he went to France : the Marquis de Seignelay, who had 
replaced his father, the great Colbert, as Minister of the 
Marine, received him well, and granted him all that he 
desired. The King of France conferred on him a patent 
of nobility, conceded to him Fort Frontenac, on con- 
dition that he should rebuild it in stone, and gave him 
permission to carry on his commercial pursuits, and con- 
tinue the discoveries, w^hich had been already commenced. 
This concession was equivalent to an exclusive grant to 
trade with the Five Nations, and it was highlv advanta- 
geous to La Salle. 

On the 14th July, 1678, La Salle, animated with 
lively hopes, and his heart filled with joy, took his de- 
parture from Rochelle, in France, bringing with him 
thirty men, mariners and workmen, anchors, sails and 
other equipments for the vessels, which he intended to 
build, to navigate the Lakes. On his arrival at Quebec, 
he left without loss of time for Cataraqui (now Kingston, 
in Canada West), taking goods with him to traffick with 
the Indians. He displayed his usual energy in preparing 
his outfit. As early as the 18th November, but four 
months since his departure from France, the first sloop 
which was ever seen on Lake Ontario sailed out of the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 37 

harbour of Cataraqui, with its sails spread to the breeze, 
laden with merchandize and the necessary materials to 
construct a fort and a vessel of larger size at Niagara, 
where he intended to establish another trading post for 
trafficking with the Indians. 

This first voyage on the waters of Lake Ontario was 
attended with success. When they arrived at the head 
of the Lake, the Indians were struck with astonishment 
at the appearance of the vessel, they gazed with admi- 
ration at its structure, its equipments, and the skilful 
manner in which it was navigated. Great as was their 
astonishment, it did not surpass that of the Europeans at 
the sight of the stupendous Cataract of Niagara ; they 
had heard from a distance the sound of its waters, rush- 
ing over a precipice of one hundred and sixty feet in 
height, and as they approached the Falls, they realized 
what they had never pictured in their imagination, 
they gazed with wonder at the sight of a river, rushing 
over such a precipice into the foaming abyss below, and 
they were startled at the view of this new feature in 
the scenery of the great Western World. 

La Salle caused the cargo of the sloop to be disem- 
barked and transported to the head of Lake Erie, where 
he commenced the construction of a fort and a vessel 
But v/hilst the savages observed the progress of the fort 

4 



38 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

towards its completion, they began to fear and to mur- 
mur. In order not to excite the hatred of these barba- 
rians, La Salle contented himself with converting it into 
a dwelling, surrounded by simple palisades, w^hich he 
intended to use for a store. In the winter, a workhouse 
was erected at some distance above the Falls, for the 
purpose of enabling him to complete the vessel of sixty 
tons, which he was about building. This work w^as ex- 
ecuted under the immediate superintendence of the Che- 
valier de Tonti, and as this nobleman was the first ar- 
chitect of a vessel to ply on the waters of Lake Erie, 
his name and services should not be forgotten. He had 
been recommended to La Salle by the Prince de Condi ; 
an Italian by birth, he had in his youth engaged in the 
Sicilian w^ars, and had the misfortune to lose one of his 
hands from the bursting of a shell, Avhich he supplied 
by an iron hand, which he usually covered with a glove. 
From this circumstance, the savages feared him a great 
deal, and gave him the appellation of the iron-arm M 
De Tonti. He ^vas very useful to La Salle, to w^hom 
he was always sincerely attached. There was a w^ork 
published under his name, on the History of Louisiana, 
which he afterwards disavowed. 

The activity of La Salle increased as the realization 
of his designs became the more probable. In the win- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 39 

ter, he sent De Tonti and the Franciscan Hennepin, since 
celebrated for the publication of his travels in America, 
as an embassy to the Iroquois, whom he wished to enlist 
in favor of his enterprise ; he himself afterwards visited 
them, as w^ell as many other nations, wdth whom he 
washed to establish commercial relations. 

La Salle was the first European who founded Nia- 
gara, and built a vessel on Lake Erie. He called it the 
"Griffon," after the name of a ravenous wild bird, 
common in that country. The vessel was launched in 
the river Niagara, in the year 1679, in the midst of gen- 
eral rejoicings amongst the French, the discharge of ar- 
tillery, and the singing of the Te Deum, not how^ever 
without the expression of the superstitious belief of the 
savages, who, on seeing the vessel sailing on the w^ater 
exclaimed " Otkon^^ " Otkon^'^ significant of their as- 
tonishment at what the French could do, and implying 
that they were " extraordinary spirits." 

On the seventh of August of the same year, the 
Griffon, armed wdth seven pieces of artillery, laden with 
arms, food and merchandize, and carrying thirty-two 
men and two missionaries, entered Lake Erie, in the 
midst of the thunder of the artillery and musketry, the 
sound of w^hich w^as re-echoed back from the long 
ranges of forest, on the borders of the Lake. La Salle, 



40 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

triumphing over the envy of his enemies and the almost 
insurmountable obstacles to his enterprise, arrived safely, 
after a few days' passage, at Detroit, the sight of which 
was pleasing to his companions. They were delighted 
with the appearance of the country, and stood for hours 
admiring the beauty of the scenery, in this favorite lo- 
cality. "Those," says Hennepin, " who will have the 
happiness to possess at a future day, the lands of this 
agreeable and fertile country, will be under lasting obli- 
gations to those travellers, who first showed them the 
way and crossed over Lake Erie, after a hundred leagues 
of dangerous navigation." The words of this intelli- 
gent traveller have become true, the people of America 
owe a debt of the deepest gratitude to all, who were 
instrumental in discovering this fertile country, and res- 
cuing it from the aboriginal tribes, who first occupied it. 
The normal occupiers of the soil were at first repulsed 
by the genius and the energy of their French invaders, 
it was afterwards left to the valour and achievements of 
American soldiers to expel them from their strongholds, 
in order to make way for that progressive civilization, 
which Providence had ordained should take place in the 
wilds of the West. 

On the 23d of August, La Salle after passing through 
a small Lake, opposite Detroit, to which he gave the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 41 

name of St. Clair, entered Lake Huron and arrived in 
five days at Michilimackinac, having been exposed to a 
violent hurricane, on the voyage. On his arrival at this 
trading-post, the Indians ran away from fright, on see- 
ing the vessel on the water, carrying its large white 
sails, and approaching towards them ; when they heard 
the noise of the cannon, it was with difficulty they could 
be restrained from launching forth into the most violent 
expressions of terror and consternation. 

The French Chief, dressed in a scarlet mantle, orna- 
mented with gold lace, and followed by a guard of armed 
men, disembarked from the Griifon, to hear h'^b mass 
celebrated in the chapel of the Ottawas; he was re- 
ceived with every mark of distinction, and the Indians, 
in a short time, became reconciled to the strangers and 
joined in rendering them homage. 

The Griffon proceeded on its voyage, and in the early 
part of the month of September, cast anchor in the Bay 
des Puans, on the western shore of Lake Michigan. 
This was the destination of the travellers, so far as they 
could proceed by water, and make use of their vessel. 
La Salle had come to this trading post, to collect the 
furs, which had been brought here from the interior, and 
having laden the Griffon with them, he despatched her 

for Niagara, with the " richest cargo that had yet been 

4* 



42 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

borne, on the waters of Lake Erie." The Griffon sailed 
on the 18th of September and was never afterwards 
heard of. The loss amounted to not less than fifty or 
sixty thousand francs, and was seriously felt by La 
Salle, who had intended to dispose of these furs and dis- 
charge his pecuniary obligations in Canada. 

La Salle, after the departure of his vessel, continued 
his route as far as the village of Saint Joseph, on the 
borders of Lake Michigan, whither, according to his di- 
rections, the Griffon was to return, after its arrival from 
Niagara. He was accompanied by several men of dif- 
ferent trades, with arms and merchandize. Having 
reached this village, he erected a house and fort in its 
neighbourhood, for the safety of his effects, and also to 
serve as a retreat for his men. He gave it the name of 
Fort Miami. This fortification was raised on the sum- 
mit of a hill in the form of a triangle, watered on two 
sides by a river known as the Miami,* and defended on 
the other, by a deep ravine. He carefully surveyed the 
entry of the river, in the expectation of the return of 
his vessel, on the safety of which, depended in a great 
measure, the success of his enterprise and the probability 



• There were several small streams, marked on the old Charts, to 
which the name of Miami was given. The writer believes this to have 
been the river Chicago. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 43 

of his speedily entering on the prosecution of his dis- 
coveries. He sent two experienced men to Machilimack- 
inac to pilot it up the Lake, but having waited a con- 
siderable time, and hearing no accounts, he began to 
appi'ehend that some accident had happened to her. 
Although he was disconcerted at this unexpected delay, 
the winter being near at hand, he resolved on making 
an excursion amongst the Illinois, and leaving ten men 
to guard the fort, he left, accompanied by De Tonti, 
Hennepin, with two missionaries and about thirty fol- 
lowers. He followed the course of the river known 
then as the Miami, and after considerable fatigue and 
danger, arrived towards the end of December, in an In- 
dian village, situated on the borders of the river Illinois, 
in that section of the country, which at the present day, 
bears that name. The tribe was absent on the hison 
chase, and the village completely deserted. 

The French descended the river and did not meet with 
the Illinois Indians, until they arrived at Lake Peoria, 
called Pimiteoni by Hennepin, where there was a nu- 
merous assemblage of them. These savages, being of 
a quiet and peaceable disposition, received them with 
generous hospitality and rubbed their legs, (according 
to the custom of the tribe, with strangers, who had 



44 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

come from a distance) with bear's grease and the grease 
of wild bulls, which they considered had a wonderful 
effect in restoring activity to limbs that had become tor- 
pid, from a long march in the forest. La Salle made 
them presents and contracted a friendly alliance with 
them. It was, with great pleasure, that that nation un- 
derstood, that the French had come to establish colonies 
in their territory. Like the Hurons, they were exposed 
to the invasions of the Iroquois ; the French would there- 
fore be powerful allies, to resist with them the encroach- 
ments of their artful and relentless enemies, whilst in 
their turn. La Salle could reckon on them, as his best 
and most faithful friends. Thus an alliance was pro- 
posed and accepted between these untutored savages and 
their European brethren, which had the most salutary 
consequences, and was as lasting, as any which they 
were able to contract with these roving savages, in the 
American forest. The Illinois made their cabins in a 
peculiar manner, they were constructed of the bark of 
trees, doubled and sewed together to make them more 
durable. They were of large stature, strong, robust, 
skilful in the use of the bow and arrow, but some 
French wTiters represent them as a wandering, idle 
people, having no courage, guided by no moral re- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 45 

straints, and without any respect for their Chiefs. They 
were not acquainted with the use of fire-arms, when the 
French first came amongst them. 

Already, La Salle's men began to murmur and said, 
that as they had heard no news of the Griffon, that 
vessel must have been lost, many of them became dis- 
couraged and six deserted during the night. His under- 
taking, which at the commencement was begun under 
such favorable auspices, was now threatened with an un- 
toward result. What was he to do ? For some time he 
had met with almost insurmountable obstacles, his men 
were deserting him, and others who remained were only 
induced to do so, by the promise of their return to Can- 
ada in the spring, should circumstances not be more fa- 
vorable to them. In this emergency, and in order to 
occupy the minds of the men and arouse them from the 
state of lethargy, into which they had thrown them- 
selves, he resolved on employing them, in the erection 
of a Fort, on a height of land, which he found at a 
short distance from the Lake, and which he named Fort 
" Crevecoeur," or the Fort of the Broken-heart, to in- 
dicate his evil destiny and the anguish and remorse, un- 
der which his mind laboured. There is a spot, w^hich 
bears also this name in the State of Missouri, it may 
have probably been the scene of other disasters to some 



46 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

of these hardy adventurers, for if they did not leave 
their bones to bleach on the sands of the forest, at least 
many of them returned broken-hearted to their homes, 
after having endured all the pangs of want and misery, 
within the recesses of this newly-discovered country. 

La Salle gave orders for the construction of a boat 
to descend the Mississippi, and whilst the men were oc- 
cupied in completing these works, becoming impatient 
at hearing no news of the Griffon, and being in want of 
materials to construct his boat, he adopted the almost 
desperate resolution of returning on foot to Fort Fron- 
tenac, a distance of twelve or fifteen hundred miles, in 
order to procure the means of prosecuting his voyage. 
Before his departure, he instructed Hennepin when he 
reached the Mississippi, to ascend that river, as high as 
possible, towards its source, and examine the tract of 
country to the North, and after having given the com- 
mand of the Fort to De Tonti, he himself commenced 
his long journey for Cataraqui, on the second of March, 
1680, armed with a musket, and accompanied by four 
Frenchmen and an Indian.* 



* Charlevoix, in following the description given under the name of 
De Tonti, has fallen into several errors, respecting La Salle's expedi- 
tion to the River Illinois, which may be easily detected. Hennepin, 
an ocular witness, is the best authority in these matters, corroborated 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 47 

Hennepin had left Fort Crevecoeur, on the 29th of 
February ; he descended the Illinois river, as far as the 
Mississippi, travelled about the country, and afterwards 
ascended the river, as high as the Falls of Saint An* 
thony, and fell into the hands of the Sioux. During 
his captivity, these barbarians amused themselves, in 
making him write several words of their language, 
which he had begun to study. They said it was only 
putting black upon white, and when they saw him con- 
sult the vocabulary, which he had written of the terms 
of their peculiar language, they remarked amongst them- 
selves, ''that white thing must be a spirit, as it teaches 
him to understand all that we say.'' It is a singular 
fact, but one, which we see recorded on the pages of al- 
most every work, on the aboriginal tribes of America, 
that whatever appeared to them, as out of the ordinary 
course of things, they immediately attributed it to the 
agency of a spirit, thus testifying to their belief in su- 



as many of his statements are, by the Letters and relations of Father 
Zenobe Mambre. See his " Premier etablissement de la For, 
DANS LA NouvELLE FRANCE." Many English writers, who follow 
Charlevoix, have been incorrect in their descriptions of this voyage. 
The description as given in the text, approaches nearest towards the 
correct one. 



48 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

pernatural agency, and possibly, as some may suppose, 
in the existence of a Divinity. 

At the expiration of several months, the savages per- 
mitted the three French captives to return amongst 
their companions, after exacting a promise from them, 
that they should come back the following year. One 
of the chiefs traced the route, which they should follow 
on a piece of bark, and this map, says Hennepin, was 
as useful to them, as if they had had a compass to guide 
them in their travels. They reached the mission at 
Lake Michigan by the river Wisconsin, which flows into 
the Mississippi and Fox river, which runs to the East- 
ward. 

Such was the expedition of Hennepin, who was the 
first traveller, who ventured as high up the river, as the 
Falls of Saint Anthony, and was the first to discover 
that the Missouri was a large river, running through 
that tract of country which now bears its name. On 
his return, as he approached the river Wisconsin, where 
it joins the Mississippi, he was astonished to meet with 
a number of traders, conducted by a man of the name 
of De Luth, who had been travelling for some time, in 
that distant region. 

Whilst Hennepin was exploring the Upper Mississippi, 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 49 

La Salle's affairs grew worse at Crevecoeur, where De 
Tonti was in command. But in order to understand the 
nature of the difficulties which surrounded him^ and the 
almost insurmountable obstacles he had to contend with, 
we must take a glance at his position in Canada, where 
his enemies were at work to undermine his projects. 

Some English writers, in describing La Salle's charac- 
ter, have been guilty of imputing the most sordid mo- 
tives to him, in prosecuting his discoveries, but cotem- 
poraneous French writers have done justice to him, in 
believing, that he was actuated by a love of science and 
a desire to promote the amelioration of his race. On 
his arrival in Canada, as I have already remarked, 
without fortune, but with great ambition and the strong- 
est recommendations to persons in authority, whose 
friendship he cultivated, he very soon became an object 
of special favour with many who were acquainted with 
him, whilst his projects, connected with the discovery 
and colonization of the country, being looked upon 
with disfavor by others, and especially by the traders, 
(fraitans,) excited their envy and jealousy. They 
thought, that the exclusive grant, which La Salle had 
obtained from the Count de Frontenac, would interfere 
with their business and prevent them from trading in 
furs, in the West, and they availed themselves of every 

5 



so HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

occasion that presented itself, to thwart his projects. 
There were two classes of persons, whose enmity he had 
incurred, the merchants and the coureurs de bois, or 
small traders, who travelled in the woods, to deal with 
the Indians. Whilst he was at Crevecoeur, on the 
Illinois, awaiting news of the safe arrival of the Grif- 
fon, his creditors in Cataraqui seized every thing he had 
left behind him, in payment of his debts, and thus in- 
jured his credit with those persons, who might have been 
of service to him, and on the other hand, the coureurs 
de hoisy or small traders, were doing every thing in their 
powder to predispose the savages against him, and to in- 
duce his men to desert from his employment, so that his 
enterprise might fail.* They excited the Iroquois and 
Miamis to take up arms against the Illinois, his allies, 
and lost no opportunity to injure him in the estimation of 



* From the works of Le Clerc and Zenobe Mambre, two French 
authors of that period. 

" This enterprise, which ought to have been sustained by all those 
persons, who were inclined to act for the Glory of God and the ser- 
vice of the King, was almost frustrated by the bad feelings which 
they had created in the minds of the Hurons,the Ottawa s of the Isles, 
and neighbouring nations, with whom La Salle had dealings. He found 
the fifteen men, whom he had sent in the Spring of 1679, to Crevecoeur, 
predisposed against him and seduced from his service ; a part of his 
property was dissipated, and De Tonti, far from being able to deal 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 51 

the other tribes. Nothing could equal the activity of 
these traders; they hated La Salle in consequence of the 
monopoly of the fur trade, which the Count de Fronte- 
nac had granted to him, and were determined, if possible 
to drive him out of the country. They w^ere constantly 
at his heels, or to use the language of the old French 
writers, Us le suivaient a la piste, they secretly insinu- 
ated to the savages the most serious charges against him, 
and interposed every obstacle against the accomplishment 
of his designs. To this opposition in the interior of the 
country, were united the intrigues of the English, who 
were beginning to regard with a jealous eye, the discov- 
eries and spirit of aggrandizement of the French, in the 
West ; they therefore sent secret embassies to encourage 
the Iroquois to declare war against their French allies, 
in the valley of the Mississippi. 

Such were the disadvantages under which LaSalle la- 
boured, and it is not surprising that having to contend 
against such numerous and powerful foes, he was unable 
to execute but a part of the plans, he had at first contem- 

satisf actorily with the neighbouring tribes, was very much inclined to 
doubt their fidelity." 

Other writers give different versions of De Tonti's conduct, but how- 
ever their statements may differ, there can be no do ibt, that La Salle's 
affairs at Crevecoeur, were at this period, far from being in a satisfac- 
tory condition. 



52 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

plated ; it was quite enough to be obliged to overcome 
the obstacles^ which everywhere surrounded him in push- 
ing his discoveries in the West, he w^as totally unpre- 
pared for the opposition he met with in a quarter, where 
he least expected it. 

However, De Tonti, who had been placed in charge 
of Fort Crevecoeur, lost no time in visiting the encamp- 
ment of the Illinois and assuring himself of their friendly 
assistance. Having been informed, that the Iroquois 
wished to join the Miamis in an attack on them, he has- 
tened to instruct his new allies, in the use of fire-arms, 
so that they might be on a footing of equality with these 
nations, amongst whom musketry had been lately intro- 
duced. He also show^ed them the manner of fortifying 
their position, by erecting palisades, and built a Fort, on 
a rock, two hundred feet in height, protected by a river at 
its base. H-e was occupied with these labors, w^hen nearly 
all the men, whom he had left at Fort Crevecoeur, be- 
comins: disheartened at the unfavorable turn which mat- 
ters had taken, robbed the ammunitions and stores and 
deserted. 

There was no longer room for doubt, La Salle's en- 
emies had succeeded inarming the five nations, who ap- 
peared on a sudden, in the month of September 1680, 
in the territory occupied by the Illinois and threw that 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 53 

weak and peaceable people into the greatest consternation. 
This invasion exposed the French to eonsitlerable danger. 
De Tonti hastened to interfere, and a truce was effected, 
but the Iroquois, observing the fear into which tliey had 
thrown the Illinois, did not allow it to be of long dura- 
tion : they committed the most frightful ravages, dug up 
their dead, devastated their fields, and destroyed their 
habitations. The Illinois retreated beyond the Missis- 
sippi, roamed over the forest in scattered bands, in order 
to evade the vigilance of the Iroquois, and left the French, 
in the midst of their enemies. De Tonti, havinof with 
him but five men rmd two Recollets,* resolved to aban- 
don the country. The remnants of this small colony left 
Fort Crevecoeur, in a bark canoe, without provisions and 
depending on the chase for food, during their journey 
homewards. 

Whilst they were descending the north side of Lake 
Michigan, La Salle was proceeding along the south shore, 
with a reinforcement of men, and materials for the con- 
struction of his vessel. He^ therefore, found no person at 
the Fort, which he had established on the river Illinois. 
This made him lose another year, which he spent in trav- 
elling amongst the neighbouring tribes ; he visited a great 



• An order of Priesthood. 



54 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

number of the savages, amongst others, the Outagamis, 
and the Miamis, whom he succeeded in drawmg away 
from their alliance wuth the five nations, who, it seems, 
after the departure of De Tonti, had driven a part of the 
Illinois Indians, amongst the Osage tribe, heyond the 
Mississippi. He afterwards returned .to Cataraqui and 
Montreal, to put his aifairs in order, which needed all 
his attention. He had suffered considerable losses. * 
However, he succeeded in maMno- a settlement with his 
creditors, to w^hom he gave permission to carry on trade 
in those immense possessions which had been granted to 
him by the Count de Frontenac, and received from them 



* A vessel laden with twenty two theusand livres worth of goods 
BufFered shipwreck, in the gulf of Saint Lawrence-; several bark ca- 
nees ascending the Saint Lawrence, from Montreal to Fort Frontenac 
v^ve losl in the rapids. He said, that with the exception of the Count 
de Frontenac, it seemed to him, that all Canada had conspired against 
his enterprise;; that they had seduced his men, whom he had brought 
with him from France, of whom part had run away from him with 
his goods, through New Holland, and that with regard to theCanadians, 
who had come with him, that they had found means to disgust them, 
and detach them from his service. " In all his misfortunes, " says a 
missionary, " I have never remarked in him the slightest change, al- 
ways appearing perfectly calm and self-possessed, and I observed, he 
was more resolved than ever, to continue his work and prosecute his 
discoveries." 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 55 

in return, further advances to prosecute his discoveries. 
He abandoned the extensive plan he had projected, of es- 
tablishing forts and colonies, at the different points on his 
route, towards the sea. Apprehensive of further embar- 
rassments, he even gave up the idea of constructing a ves- 
sel and availed himself of the Indian bark canoes, to pro- 
ceed on his voyage. 

He took his departure accompanied by De Tonti, and 
Father Mambre, twenty-four Frenchmen, and eighteen 
savages of the Wolf and Abenaquis tribes, the bravest in 
America, and reached the Mississippi, on the 6th of Feb- 
ruary 1682. 

Like Marquette, he followed the course of the great 
river, without stopping to survey the adjoining country. 
He was enchanted with the mildness of the climate and 
the beauty of the scenery along the shores of the Missis- 
sippi, that feeling of sadness which had before subdued 
him, gradually wore off, and as his prospects became 
brighter, his ideas of fortune and future greatness again 
returned to him. He saw the Arkansas and other tribes, 
visited by Marquette : and as he drew near the South, 
met with a number of other nations, such as the Chica- 
sas, the Taensas, the Chactas, and the Natchez, rendered 
so celebrated by the writings of Chateaubriand, and other 
travellers. Being obliged to stop several times, he did 



56 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

not arrive at the outlet of the river, until the ninth of 
April, when he first saw the Ocean, spreading its w^ide 
waters around that beautifjil country, rendered so pleas- 
ing by its warm, tropical climate. Like Marquette, and 
the other travellers, who had preceded him, he gave vent 
to the liveliest feelings of emotion, a cry of enthusiasm 
and of triumph was wrung from his heart, at length he 
had reached the point of his destination, the object of his 
most anxious desires for years had been attained, he stood 
on that soil, w^hich he claimed as a noble conquest for 
his country. He solemnly took possession of that part 
of the valley of the Mississippi for France, and gave it 
the name of Louisiana, in honor of Louis the Fourteenth, 
of which New Orleans, the capital, w^as founded by one 
of the countrymen of La Salle. 

Thus the discovery of the Mississippi was completed 
by the French, from the Falls of Saint Anthony to the 
sea, a distance of more than eighteen hundred miles. 

La Salle then retraced his steps and despatched Mam- 
bre to France, to render an account to the King of the 
result of the voyage. This Franciscan monk embarked 
on board of a vessel, w'hich had been sent from France 
to Canada to brino; back the Count de Frontenac, and 
which sailed from Quebec, on the seventeenth of Novem- 
ber. La Salle himself remained the following summer, 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 57 

and winter, amongst the Illinois, and in the vicinity of 
Lake Michicran to form new establishments and trade 
with the Indians. Having afterwards heard of the evil 
disposition towards him of the new Governor M. de la 
Barre, he resolved to go to France, to counteract the ef- 
fects of the report which that functionary had sent to the 
Government, relatively to his discoveries in the West. 
De la Barre had written to the Ministry, that it was ow- 
ing to the imprudence of La Salle, that war had been de- 
clared by the Five nations against the French, and that 
the Colony might be attacked, before he had time to 
place it in a state of defence ; he wrote again after the 
discovery of the outlet of the Mississippi, that Mambre, 
who had just arrived in Quebec, to go to Europe, would 
not communicate anything to him about La Salle's ex- 
pedition, that he did not believe, that much faith could 
be attached to what the Franciscan said, and that La 
Salle himself appeared to have ulterior designs in view, 
which could not meet with their approval, that he was 
in the vicinity of the Bay of Lake Michigan, with about 
twenty vagabonds, French and savages, where he set his 
Sovereign at defiance, pillaged and robbed the people of 
his nation, exposed them to the incursions of the Iroquois, 
and made use of all this violence, under the pretext, that 



"SB 



HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 



he alone was entitled to the right to trade with the In- 
dians, in the countries, which he had discovered. 

From these false representations, made by the Gover- 
nor to the French Ministry, followed by the seizure of 
Forts Frontenac and St. Louis in Illinois, La Salle left 
Quebec, in the month of November 1683, to repair to 
France, for the purpose of laying his case before the 
French Ministry and proving his fidelity to the Crown. 

La Salle's arrival in France was most opportune. It 
was at the period, when Louis the Fourteenth, was at the 
height of his glory, and was acknowledged as the most 
powerful Prince in Christendom. The Conqueror of com- 
bined Europe, he had dictated terms to the vanquished, 
at the Congress of Nimegue, in 1678. Everything seem- 
ed to favor the designs of this ambitious monarch. The 
discovery of the Mississippi lent additional interest to the 
events of his reign, and whilst he rejoiced at the glory, 
which he had acquired in arms, he was not insensible to 
that, which he had gained, as being the Monarch, under 
whose reign, La Salle had been able to do so much for the 
promotion of science. It was not, therefore, surprising, 
that La Salle's enemies were thwarted in their designs to 
injure him, and that he himself was received with great fa- 
vor, by his sovereign, as being the discoverer of the out- 



OF TIIZ MISSISSIPPI. 59 

let of the Mississippi, and the one, who had procured 
for him this new acquisition of territory. 

Although Colbert had descended to the grave, the im- 
pulse which he had given to commerce, to industry and 
colonization had survived him, and the French people 
learnt with a feeling of pride, of the extension of territory 
in the interior of America. M. de Seignelai, (Colbert's 
successor) after having held a conference with our trav- 
eller, whom he had with a great deal of interest 
perceived, that M. de la Barre had been led into error. 
He could refuse nothing to La Salle, who had en- 
dowed France with one of the finest countries in the 
world, and the King as w^ell as the Minister, gave him 
permission to establish colonies in America. Apprecia- 
ting these marks of favor, on the part of his Sovereign, 
and sensible, how much they w^ould tend to dispel the 
prejudice, existing against him elsewhere, he set about 
making preparations for a new enterprise, in which he 
had already secured the favourable co-operation of Gov- 
ernment. 

Ferdinand de Soto, the associate of Pizarro, whose 
name has become renowned in the History of Spain, had 
done nothing more in lo39 and '40 than travel over the 
interior of the country from Florida to Arkansas. The 
object of his expedition was to ascertain, whether there 



60 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

existed any gold or silver mines, in that section of Ameri- 
ca, and having failed to discover any, he was about re- 
turning, when he met with his death at Red river in the 
year 1542. Moscosa, his Lieutenant, replaced him and 
marched with three hundred and fifty men, towards the 
West, but on his reaching the mountains, he changed his 
course to the South and embarked on board of a vessel 
to return to his country. Neither De Soto nor Moscosa 
had visited the country, with a view to its colonization, 
and there is nothing but vague traditions existing of 
their travels, in the southern part of this continent. 
There is a work in the Spanish language, written by 
Garcilasso de la Vega, of which a translation has been 
made b^ P. Richelet, entitled " History of the Conquest 
of Florida, by Ferdinand de Soto," but it contains no 
information of the existence of any Colony, established 
by the Spaniards, in the valley of the Mississippi.* 

We have seen the favorable reception, which Louis 
the Fourteenth gave La Salle, when in 1683, he informed 



I 



* This work was in the Library of the Legislative Assembly in Can- 
ada, which was destroyed by fire, in the month of April 1849. With 
the exception of Zenobe Mambre's work, all the works herein men- 
tioned were found in that collection. The destruction of thai library 
unequalled by any on this Continent, and as regards its Avorks, on 
American History, by any throughout the World, was an event which 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



61 



him, that he had lately acquired such a vast accession of 
territory, on the American Continent. There were no 
favors, which that proud and ambitious monarch did not 
lavish on the discoverer of the outlet of the Mississippi. 
He was received at Court, with all the honors paid to 
the princes and nobles of the land, his name was on eve- 
ry one's lips and there was no praise, which he did not 
receive. It must have been gratifying to La Salle, when 
he remembered the misfortunes of his early days, and 
all the trials he had gone through, and when he recalled 
to mind the aspersions of his enemies, to lind himself 
the recipient of Royal favors, and the object of the be- 
nevolence of that monarch, under whose auspices, he had 
first commenced his undertaking. He proposed to Louis 
the Fourteenth, to unite Canada with the country, on 
the borders of the Gulf of Mexico, and to extend his sov- 
reignty from the shores of the Saint Lawrence to the 
outlet of the Mississippi. This project was readily 
countenanced by the King, and he gave La Salle instruc- 
tions to proceed immediately to colonize Louisiana. 
Four vessels were placed at his disposal ; the Jolly car- 



will forever be deplored. The collector of the works, a gentleman of 
distinguished literary attainments, had visited every book-mart in Eu- 
rope, to attain the object, he had in view. 

6 



62 HISTORY O? THE VALLEY 

Tying thirty-six cannons, the Belle six cannons, the 
Jlimahle, a vessel of three hundred tons and a transport. 
Two hundred and eighty persons embarked on board 
these vessels, amongst whom, there were a hundred sol- 
diers, mechanics, volunteers, and eight missionaries. 

On the 24th July 16S4, this little squadron, under the 
command of M. de Beaujeu, left Rochelle, in France, on 
its voyage of discovery. Scarcely had they set sail, 
when a mis-understanding arose between de Beaujeu 
and La Salle. This gave rise, as it would appear, to a 
lengthened controversy, in w^hich both parties appealed 
to the French Ministry. Mr. Sparks, in the 11th vol- 
ume of his valuable work, on American Biography, has 
given the substance of De Beaujeu's letter to the au- 
thorities in France, but as the details of this quarrel 
would be uninteresting, they are here passed over. 

In consequence of these misunderstandings, it seems, 
they committed an error in navigating the vessels and 
wen4 out of the proper course — instead of being at the 
east, they were far to the west of the outlet of the 
Mississippi, and on the 14th of February 168o, landed 
in St. Benard's bay, now called Matagorda, in Texas, 
at a distance of a hundred and tw^enty leagues from the 
river, they were in search of. To add to La Salle's dif- 
ficulties, the commander of the Aimable, on entering the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 63 

bay, struck his vessel on a rock, some authors say de- 
signedly,* others accidentally. However this may be, 
the JlimahU was shipwrecked and the whole cargo was 
lost, and La Salle w^as deprived of the use of nearly 
all his munitions of war, mechanical implements and 
other articles, which were necessary to commence ope- 
rations, for the establishment of a colony, in an unculti- 
vated and distant country. De Beaujeu, instead of pun^ 
ishing the Commander, received him on board of his 
ship, to protect him from La Salle's vengeance. There 
seemed to be a fatality, attending this enterprise from 
its commencement to its termination. De la Barre's 0|> 
position to it, followed by the confiscation of La Salle's 
property, the aspersions cast on his character, and the 
injury, that was attempted to be done to him in France ; 
all was discouraging to him, and when to this was added, 
the conduct of jD,e Beaujeu towards him, it certainly ap- 
peared,, as if the fdies were against the successful com- 
pletion of his projects. Pe Beaujeu endeavored to ag- 
gravate the hardships of J^a Salle's condition ; he refused 
him all succor or assistance, he would not give him any 
of the materials, that were on board his vessel to re- 
place those, which had been lost, and on the 14th March 



* Joutel JOURNAL HISTORIQUE DU DERNIER VOYAGE PE FEU M. Dj; 

JLA Salle IN 12mo., paris, 1713. 



64 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

1685, finally abandoned the young Colony, consisting of 
one hundred and eighty persons, on an inhospitable 
shore, in a distant country, surrounded by savages and 
exposed to the most imminent danger. 

They immediately began to cultivate the ground and 
to erect a fort, to protect them against the incursions of 
the Indians. When it was nearly completed, La Salle 
ascended the Riviere aux Vaches, to a distance of about 
two leagues from the Bay, where he commenced the 
erection of another Fort, which he called Saint Louis, 
in honor of the King, who had bestowed on him so 
many favors. Placed on a height of land, the view 
from the Fort extended over the whole surroundingr 
country. However, when the buildings were almost fin- 
ished, the people began to complain ; the grain, which 
they had sown became parched from the intensity of the 
heat, or was destroyed by wild animals from the adjoin- 
ing forest, the mechanics knew but little of their trades, 
and the works were suspended from the want of men to 
complete them, the people grew exasperated from the 
evils they suffered and broke out into open mutiny, 
which was only allayed by the interference of Joutel, 
the author of the best account, we have, of this unfor- 
tunate expedition. Some of the men w^ere seized with 
sickness and died, whilst others^ threatened with a hos- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 6S 

tile attack from the Indians, complained that La Salle 
did not bring them out of the country. He alone of all 
the colonists, concealed his fears and never lost that 
equanimity, for Avhich he was remarkable; in the midst of 
all his difficulties, he preserved a calm and serene coun- 
tenance, he never gave vent to a thought, which might 
have the effect of discouraging his men, but on the con- 
trary, applied himself with assiduity to the completion 
of the work and was himself foremost in carrying it on. 
The resources of his genius seemed to increase with the 
obstacles he had to surmount, his temper naturally kind 
to his inferiors, became severe, as it was necessary to 
repress their insubordination and he punished the slight- 
est faults with the greatest rigour. There hardly ever 
escaped a word of kindness or consolation from his lips, 
towards those, who were suffering with the greatest pa- 
tience. A deep sadness came over the spirits of th,e 
colonists. They felt indifferent at every thing that oc- 
curred, and disease having again spread its ravages 
amongst them, about thirty of them surrendered life, 
without even a feeling of sorrow. The character of 
La Salle contributed greatly to his misfortunes. His 
pride disdained any interference with him. Any other 
person less capable, perhaps less just than him, but more 

insinuating, might have succeeded where he failed. 

6* 



66 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

111 that part of the country, where this colony was 
established (now Texas) the climate was warm, but sal- 
ubriou^, the air pure, the sky serene, and it scarcely 
ever rained, extensive plains were seen, divided here and 
there, by rivers, lakes, and the most charming rural re- 
treats, the palm tree grew in the forests, which were 
filled with a species of leopards and tigers, the rivers 
were full of crocodiles, twenty feet in length, which 
chased away the fish, the hissing serpent was concealed 
beneath the grass, in the prairies strewed with flow- 
ers, which attracted the attention of the French, and 
a multitude of savage tribes were roving through the 
forests ; thus, in the midst of all the allurements of this 
fine tropical climate, beguiled by the charming prospect 
around them, they had but to wander from the precincts 
of their habitations, and they were doomed to meet 
with death, where they had hoped to enjoy life. 

La Salle resolved to make further exertions, for the 
discovery of the outlet of the Mississippi. He made a 
voyage to the Colorado, in which he lost several men, 
who were massacred by the Indians or who perished 
in the shipwreck of the Belle, the only vessel be- 
longing to him, which was left after the departure of 
De Beaujeu. He made another excursion among the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 67 

Cenis* a tribe in the interior, which was not more suc- 
cessful, and out of twenty men, who went with him, he 
brought back but eight. Owing to sickness, and the 
accidents, which happened to them, there were also 
frightful ravages, amongst his other companions. La 
Salle proposed to ask for assistance from the inhabit- 
ants of the West India Islands, and to travel about the 
gulf of Mexico, until he found the Mississippi, but the 
loss of the Belle frustrated all his plans ; his resources 
failing him every day, and being distant two thousand 
miles from the habitations of civilized man, there re- 
mained no other recourse, but to demand assistance 
from France, by the way of Canada. 

He decided to go himself to Illinois, a step which 
would certainly have been unadvisable, had not his 
presence been necessary in Canada, to silence his oppo- 
nents, who were always ready to cast aspersions on his 
conduct, whenever success did not attend him. He left 
on the twelfth of January 1687, taking with him seven- 
teen persons, and leaving twenty at Fort Saint Louis, 
including men, women and children. Thus, at this peri- 
od, the number of colonists was reduced from one hun- 



• Charlevoix mentions, that the Clamccets were the names of the 
savages, who lived on the borders of the sea, whilst the Cenis occu- 
pied the interior. 



68 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

dred and eighty to thirty-seven. A Canadian of the 
name of Le Barbier was left in command of the Fort. 
"We separated," says Joutel, *' one from another, with 
such sorrow and sadness, that it appeared as if we all 
had a secret presentiment, we should never see each 
other again." 

The journey was slow and painful. On the sixteenth 
of March, whilst they were yet, on, one of the tributa- 
ries of Trinity river, a sanguinary tragedy occurred, 
which seemed to complete the misfortunes, which had 
already befallen this ill-fated expedition. Some of the 
men who accompanied La Salle, at the head of whom 
was Duhaut, being separated from the rest, had a quar- 
rel with La Salle's nephe\v., named Moragnet ; dishear- 
tened at their losses and privations, and incensed at the 
insolence of this man, they determined to kill him, and 
to dispatch at the same time his two companions, in case 
they should disclose their participation in the offence. 
But they had no sooner committed this triple assassina- 
tion, than fearing the justice of La Salle, and carried 
away by their propensity to commit crime, they thought 
their vengeance would not be satisfied, as long as that 
Chief lived ; his death was therefore resolved upon. 
In the mean time, La Salle, finding that his nephew did 
not return, a suspicion flitted across his mind, that 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 69 

something wrong had occurred to him, and he asked, if 
he had not had some difficulty with Duhaut. He left 
immediately to go and meet him. The conspirators 
having ohserved him coming at a distance, loaded their 
guns, crossed the river, and concealed themselves in the 
brushwood, lying in wait for him. The latter, on ap- 
proaching their place of concealment, observed two ea- 
gles, flying over his head, as if they were in the neigh- 
borhood of some prey ; he fired his gun. One of the 
conspirators came forth from his hiding place and on 
La Salle's approaching him, he asked him w^here was 
his nephew ? Whilst he was giving a vague reply, a 
ball struck La Salle in the head, and he fell mortally 
wounded, without saying a word. The missionary An- 
astasc who was near him, feared that he w^ould undergo 
the same fate. La Salle lived about an hour after he 
had been wounded, and in shaking hands with Anastase, 
\vho was on his knees near him, indicated to him, that 
he understood the words, which that pious missionary 
was addressing to him. He was buried on the spot, 
where he was killed, in the midst of the forest, by that 
good Priest, who planted a cross over his grave, in mem- 
ory of one, who had been to him a good friend and a 
kind companion. Mr. Sparks places the scene of this 
bloody drama, on the borders of one of the tributaries 



70 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

of the river Brazos, whilst other writers say, it occur- 
red in the vicinity of Trinity river. 

The murderers laid hold of everything they could 
find and proceeded on their journey ; some of their 
companions with their hearts overburdened with grief, 
others with the deepest remorse and disquietude. The 
assassins soon became disunited, and in a quarrel, which 
they had, respecting the division of the property, Du- 
haut and the Surgeon Liotot, the two chief conspirators, 
met with their death from a pistol shot, fired at them by 
their companions. The savages looked with terror on 
these sanguinary scenes, perpetrated in the depths of the 
forest, by those very men, who had come amongst 
them to inculcate peaceful doctrines, and to teach 
them, how sinful it was to imbrue their hands in hu- 
man blood. Soon after the commission of this last 
crime, they separated. All those who were compromis- 
ed in the murder, remained amongst the Indians, whilst 
the others to the number of seven, viz : Joutel, Anas- 
tase, the Cavaliers, uncle and nephew, and three others, 
continued their journey, as far as Illinois, where they 
arrived at Fort Saint Louis, on the fourteenth of Sep- 
tember 1687. 

However sad was the fate of La Salle and his com- 
panions, the small colony, that had remained, at Saint 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 71 

Bernard's Bay, met with even more dreadful disasters. 
A few days after La Salle left, the savages suddenly at- 
tacked the fort, and massacred all the inhabitants, with 
the exception of five. They had suffered all the pangs 
of want and hunger, they had been exposed to the at- 
tacks of hordes of ruthless savages, and gladly welcom- 
ed death, as the means of averting their misery. The 
five persons, who escaped, fell into the hands of the 
Spaniards ; two or three of them were sent to the mines 
of Mexico and the others, young men named Talon, 
were taken under the protection of the Vice-Roy of that 
country, and treated by him, with every mark of kind- 
ness. When they arrived at the age of manhood, they 
were placed in the Spanish Navy, and after several en- 
gagements, in which they distinguished themselves, re- 
turned to France, their native country. 

Such was the unfortunate issue of an expedition 
which had inspired the greatest hopes, and which would 
have probably succeeded, had they confined themselves 
to promoting the objects they had in view at the estab- 
lishment, where they were at first located, without di- 
recting their attention elsewhere. Texas is one of the 
finest and most fertile Countries in the world, but La Salle 
here committed the same error he had fallen into, in Cana- 
da, that of being accompanied by too many persons, in his 



72 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

expeditions. The ruin of St. Louis, was- the necessary 
consequence of the disasters, which befel this party. 
In order to promote its success. La Salle ought to have 
remained in his young Colony and given encouragement 
to settlements and the arts of agriculture. Some authors 
reproach him for having lost sight of his first designs, 
in order to attempt the discovery of the fabulous mines 
of Sainte Barbe ; but there is nothing in Joutel, nor in 
Zenobe Mambre,* which would justify this assertion.! 
It would appear, that the genius of this celebrated 
traveller was more adapted to establish a great commer- 
cial empire in those distant countries, than to found an 
agricultural colony. There was something grand and 
majestic in his ideas, and the plans, which he submitted 
to Louis the Fourteenth, were based on exact and 



* Christian Le Clere " First establishment of the Faith in New 
France." 

f On the contrary, instead of approaching the Spaniards, he went 
farther from them. We read in Zenobe Mambre's work, " It was 
here, that La Salle changed his route from the North-East to the 
East, for reasons, which he does not give us, and which we have nev- 
er been able to penetrate." The Mississippi was to the East of him. 
There must be some error in this account from Zenobe Mambre, the 
words from " North East to the East," ought perhaps to be read 
" From North East to the West." His error consisted in not going 
to the East, where he would have discovered the outlet of the river. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 73 

profound calculations ; he was the precursor of Du- 
pleix. 

I have enlarged more on the result of this unfortu- 
nate expedition, because it serves as a prelude to that, 
which was afterwards undertaken in Louisiana. The 
student of American history owes a tribute of respect to 
the memory of a man, who sacrificed his fortune and 
his life, in the cause of French colonization in America, 
for if he did not establish, he at least greatly accelera- 
ted the establishment of Louisiana, now the abode of so 
many of his countrymen, and one of the most flourish- 
ing parts of the Union. Every day adds also to the in- 
terest which is taken in the history of the fathers of the 
New World. As this Continent becomes more inhabit- 
ed, as these ancient colonies, once so poor, so humble in 
their origin, are changed into States, into independent 
Republics, the names of their founders acquire increased 
celebrity, and their actions may be regarded as the land- 
marks of history, behind which there is so much to 
interest the student in his researches for information, 
concerning the early discovery of this part of America. 

The foundation of a Colony in Louisiana, like that of 
Canada, and the other French possessions in America 
was doomed to be accompanied by many vicissitudes 
and misfortunes. The experience of a century had not 



74 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

changed the policy of the government, the large and 
comprehensive principles of Colbert were forgotten, 
even at the time, when it was first contemplated to found 
this establishment, and the penury of a nearly exhaus- 
ted treasury induced the creating of a monopoly, where 
the enterprise ought to have received the attention, for 
it needed the undivided energies of the Government. 
France, at the present day is attempting to establish a 
military empire in Africa ; it might learn a lesson, from 
its experience in the colonization of this Continent. 
There were none of the elements of durability in either 
the policy she pursued or the institutions she established 
in the New World. She placed her foot on American 
soil, in the hope of realizing money from the adventure, 
her objects were to promote commerce and increase her 
wealth, she thought but little of the means of ensuring 
happiness to her children on this Continent. By encour- 
aging the arts of agriculture, she would be giving hope 
to the Colonists, that they would find a permanent home, 
in the wilds of America, and this would thwart her 
schemes for aggrandizing herself, by the monopoly of 
the commerce of the New World. She would not give 
them liberty, but preferred transplanting to this Conti- 
nent the germs of that despotism, that was crushing the 
energies of her people at home. Hence, her want of 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 75 

success, in making the Colonists feel a permanent inter- 
est in the soil, hence, from their love of liberty and 
fear of despotism they yielded, under the combined influ- 
ence of American valor and patriotism. From the plains 
of Abraham, in the frigid regions of Canada, to the rice 
and sugar plantations of Louisiana, there was not an 
inch of territory, which she was not finally obliged to 
abandon, although she was the first to enter on the 
work of colonization and to obtain a temporary foot- 
hold in the country. 

The war, which was terminated by the Peace of Ris- 
wick, had engrossed so much of the attention of the 
French, that they did not make any further attempt to 
colonize either Texas or Louisiana ; but several French 
Canadians, attracted by the beauty and fertility of the 
country, had established themselves during this period, 
along the shores of the Atlantic and the Mississippi, and 
were the ancestors of many of those wealthy planters 
and merchants, who are now settled in the City of New 
Orleans and the surrounding country. They had foun- 
ded establishments in that part of Louisiana, and at Mo- 
bile, in order to be as near as possible to the French West 
India Islands, whither they resorted for purposes of com- 
merce.* But as soon as peace was re-established on a 



* Le Page Dupratz work on America, published in Paris in 1758, 



76 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

solid and permanent basis, the French Court bestowed 
ks attention on the affairs of the New World. The 
Spaniards, who at all times looked upon America, as 
their exclusive patrimony, had regarded La Salle's en- 
terprise with much envy, and they learned the news of 
his death and the dispersion of his companions, without 
manifesting any emotion. They knew, it would afford 
them the opportunity of taking quiet possession of the 
country and driving away the French for ever. After 
having visited different parts of the coast, for the pur- 
pose of selecting a convenient locality for a settlement, 
they established themselves at Pensacola, at the western 
extremity of Florida, where they had remained for a 
short period, before D'Iberville arrived. 

On his return from Hudson's Bay in 1697, this cele- 
brated traveller proposed to the French Ministry, to re- 
sume the projects, which they had some years before 
contemplated, with respect to Louisiana. M. de Pont- 
charlrain readily accepted his offer, and gave him two 
vessels, with which he set sail from Rochefort in France, 
in the month of October of the following year, and 
more successful than La Salle^ he found the outlet 
of the Mississippi, the search after which had occupied 
a part of the life-time of his predecessor^ Having, on 
liis return, been named Governor General of that ex- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 77 

tensive country, he went there in the year 1699, with a 
number of Colonists. He presented himself before Fort 
Pensacola and asked permission to disembark, which the 
Spaniards refused. He continued his route towards the 
West, and in March 1699, entered the mouth of the 
Mississippi, which he ascended to the settlement of the 
Outmas, a tribe established above the place, now known 
as Donaldsonville, who delivered to him a letter from 
De Tonti, addressed to La Salle, whom he had wished 
to meet in the fall of 1685. 

D'Iberville returned and disembarked his small colo- 
ny, in the Bay of Biloxi, situated between the river and 
Pensacola. Here, they suffered much from the heat of 
the climate, and there was nothing in the appearance of 
the country to attract their attention ; its dry and arid 
soil they judged unfit for agriculture and they conclu- 
ded, that D'Iberville selected the locality, as being so 
well adapted to establish co-mmercial relations with the 
neighbouring Indians, the Spaniards, the French West 
India Islands and with Europe. 

On his return from France, in the year 1700, D'Iber- 
ville was apprised that the English, coming from the 
sea, had appeared in the Mississippi, whilst others com- 
ing by land from Carolina, had advanced as far as the 



78 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

territory of the Chickasas, on the river Yazous.* The 
attention of this nation was attracted towards Louisiana, 
by the treasonable conduct of Father Hennepin,! who 
in dedicating a new edition of his travels in America, 
to King William the Third, wherein he described La 
Salle's discoveries as his own, invited that Protestant 
Monarch to take possession of the country and to prop- 
agate the Gospel amongst the Indians. J William, 
therefore despatched three vessels, laden with Huguenots 
to commence the colonization of the Mississippi, but 
D'lberville was before-hand with them. They then 
went to the Province of Panuca, to concert measures 
with the Soaniards to drive awav the French from Bi- 
loxi. This proceeding was however ineffectual. § They 
met with hardly any opposition on the part of the Span- 



* The Carolinas North and South are marked on the old French 
charts, as having the Mississippi for their western boundary. 

t The King of France issued orders to arrest this Monk, if he pre- 
sented himself in Canada. (Documens de Paris.) 

:{: There is a curious passage in the abstract of a Memorial to King 
William, presenting the claims of the English to a part of the valley 
of the Mississippi, (to be found in the appendix'to Coxe's Coralr.- 
na, page, 86,) in w^hich the New Englanders claimed a rigjht to the 
territory, on the ground of discovery, in the year 1678. Coxe's Cora- 
lana was published in 1722. 

§ Universal History, XI., 278. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 79 

iards, and from the friendly relations, which subsisted 
between these nations, at the commencement of the cen- 
tury, the English were foiled in their efforts to bring 
abo-ut a state of hostility between them. 

After the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a large 
number of Huguenots had established themselves in Vir- 
ginia an 1 a^ong the coast of America. They had ac- 
quired considerable property in Carolina, and Massachu- 
setts had given them the right of representation in the 
Legislature, They established many towns, which are 
now in a flourishing state. These unfortunate exiles, 
who could never forget their native country, had peti- 
tioned Louis the Fourteenth for permission to settle un- 
der his protection in Louisiana ; they assured him that 
they would ever be faithful subjects and would demand 
nothing more than liberty of conscience. They said, 
that if he acceded to their wishes, they would leave in 
considerable numbers and aid in developing the resources 
of that flourishing country. Louis the XIV, who be- 
came more religious, as his years advanced, refused 
their prayer, " The King," says Pontchartrain, ^' did 
not expel the Protestants from his Kingdom, to erect a 
Republic in America." They renewed their demand, 
under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, but that li- 
centious Prince gave them the same answer as his pred- 



80 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

ecessor. In speaking of the Huguenots, the circum- 
stance of their arrival in America, may be mentioned, 
in connection with the discovery of the West. They 
were a hardy and energetic race of men ; suffering from 
religious persecution and escaping from the flames of 
religious warfare, which were kindling in their native 
country, they emigrated to America, appreciating the 
value of civil and religious liberty. Foremost in every 
work for the advancement and amelioration of their 
race, they prosecuted science for the blessings it would 
confer on mankind and thus contributed in no slight de- 
gree to facilitate the labors of those, who were making 
researches in America. Nor were they behind-hand in 
the struggles, which their adopted Country was after- 
wards engaged in, with the parent State. They volun- 
tarily came forward and rendered essential service to 
America, when she stood most in need of it. " The re- 
membrance, says an American writer,* of the distin- 
guished services, which their descendants rendered to 
our country, and to the cause of civil and religious lib- 

* Memoir of the French Protestants, who settled at Oxford, Mas- 
sachusetts A. D. 1686, with a sketch of the entire History of the 
Protestants of France by A. Holmes, D. D. Corresponding Secreta- 
ry. " Collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Vo. 2nd 
of the 3d series. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 81 

erty, ought to increase our respect for the French emi- 
grants and our interest in their history. Mr. Gabriel 
Manigault of South Carolina gave the country, which 
had offered an asylum to his ancestors, two hundred and 
twenty thousand dollars, to carry on the war of Inde- 
pendance. He rendered this service, at the commence- 
ment of the contest, when no one could say, whether it 
would terminate in a revolution or a revolt. Of the 
nine chairmen of the old Congress, who directed the 
affairs of the United States, during the war of the Rev- 
olution, three w^ere descendants of French Protestant 
refugees, viz : Henry Laurens of South Carolina, John 
Jay of New York, and Elias Boudinot of New Jersey." 
We left D'Iberville ^engaged in establishing his small 
Colony in the Bay of Biloxi, near Pensacola. He un- 
dertook a short voyage up the Mississippi, as far as the 
Natchez, where he contemplated fixing the site of a 
town, but he returned to Biloxi, where he established 
his head quarters. M. de Sauvolle was named the 
commandant of this Fort. D'Iberville w^ote to the 
French Ministry, that men of experience in the affairs 
of America were of opinion, that Louisiana would nev- 
er become important in a commercial point of view, un- 
less they established free trade wdth the merchants of 
the Kingdom. The Government restricted commerce 



82 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

vith Louisiana, as it was generally believed at that pe- 
riod, that great value was to be attached to the pearl 
fisheries, and the skins of the bisons and other wild ani- 
mals, and that the trade in these articles would greatly 
enrich the public treasury. The rumors that prevailed 
in France, respecting the existence of gold and silver 
mines, to the west of the Mississippi, led the Govern- 
ment to indulge in the most sanguine hopes, that the 
country would prove the richest portion of the French 
domains. This, therefore, induced the Ministry to cre- 
ate monopolies, w^hich they could at all times regulate, 
rather than throw open the commerce of Louisiana to 
the enterprise and industry of its people. D'Iberville 
sent M. Leseur, his relative, to take possession of a 
copper mine, on Green river, to the North West of the 
Falls of Saint Anthony. This undertaking was soon 
abandoned, on account of its being carried on so far in 
the interior. With regard to the pretended mines of 
gold and silver, which excited much more attention in 
Europe, than in America, they were so many idle delu- 
sions, which seized hold of the public mind for the mo- 
ment, but which vanished, as soon as the uncertainty of 
their existence became known. Not that there were no 
mines to the west of the Mississippi, but they had not 
then been discovered. With many, the search after 



« 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 83 

gold was the only object they had m view, in coming to 
the New World, but their hopes were doomed to be 
disappointed and their labours resulted in shame and 
ruin. Such were the frequent attempts, made by a Por- 
tuguese fugitive, named Antoine, who had escaped from 
the mines of Mexico, and w^ho had made several fruit- 
less searches, in the soil of Louisiana. They resulted 
in nothing else, than to bring the French hunters after 
gold, nearer and nearer to the sources of the rivers, 
emptying themselves into the Mississippi, and which 
took their rise in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. In their wanderings, they had traversed the coun- 
try, bordering on the banks of the Red river, the Ark- 
ansas, and the Missouri, and the coveted riches, which 
they idly fancied, were embowelled in the earth, fled be- 
fore them, as so many mirages of the desert. 

To what reflections do these unsuccessful attempts of 
the French give rise ? Had they discovered the exis- 
tence of the gold, which is now known to be, to the 
west of the Mississippi ; had they the most distant 
idea of the existence of that wealth, which is now within 
the limits of our Government, w^hat an impetus would it 
have given to the cause of French colonization in Ameri- 
ca ? Thousands would have left their native country 
and settled themselves on this Continent, attracted by 



84 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

that golden meteor, which they saw in the distance and 
which they were so eagerly in search of. Instead of 
shedding their blood, on the battle fields of Duquesne and 
Monongahela, in the hope of sustaining a feeble sov- 
ereignty in the New World, they would have fought 
w^ith desperation, knowing the value of the prize, they 
were surrendering. But the French was not the nation, 
which Providence had ordained, should become the in- 
heritors and the possessors of this soil. The glorious 
deeds of our ancestors, in ejecting the French from 
America, w^ere began amongst the mountain passes of 
the AUeghanies. They were consummated in the war 
for Independence. Divine Providence, in rewarding 
those, who were not engaged in a search after gold, but 
who were battling in the cause of human liberty and 
civilization, on the plains of Cerro Gordo and Buena 
Vista, opened to their view those objects, which the 
French had searched for in vain, those mines of gold, 
which they had so long coveted, but which they never 
could obtain. 

In the year 1701, D'Iberville commenced an establish- 
ment on the river Mobile, and M. de Bienville, his 
brother, since in command of the colony, after the death 
of De Sauvolle, removed the inhabitants from the sandy 
plains of Biloxi, to this more favored locality. The 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 85 

river was only navigable for boats of light draught, and 
the soil which it watered, was only adapted for the cul- 
tivation of tobacco, but, " according to the system, that 
then, prevailed of fixing the colony near the mouth of 
a river," they wished to be within a short distance of 
the Island of Dauphine, or the Massacre, as it was 
called, in order that they might have the advantage of 
a harbour, from whence, as at Biloxi, they might trade 
with the Spaniards, the French West India Islands and 
with Europe. Mobile soon became the chief place of 
residence, {chef-lieu,) of the French. On his fourth 
voyage to Louisiana, in the following year, D'Iberville 
caused barracks and stores to be constructed, and under 
the management of its first founder, the Colony advanc- 
ed by degrees in population and resources, until the 
death of D'Iberville, which occurred in the year 1706. 
D'Iberville expired, with the reputation of being one 
of the bravest and most skilful officers, in the French 
Navy. Born in Canada, of an ancient Norman family, 
he had enlisted, almost from his boyhood, in the service 
of his country. He had passed his apprenticeship in 
arms, in the wars, which the French carried on against 
hostile Indian tribes, in which the most essential qualifi- 
cations in the French officer was the possession of ex- 
traordinary physical force, and the most daring intre- 

8 



86 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

pidity, and in which the officer, as the soldier was ahke 
accustomed to lengthy marches in the thickest forests, 
at all seasons of the year. Depending on the chase for 
food, and handling his gun, as he would his axe, and his 
paddle as his sword, he was brought up to a life of the 
severest privations ; " not to fear a ball, if it should 
strike him in the midst of the forest, nor to attack the 
most savage Indians, in an ambuscade, nor to storm a 
Fort, by a sharp escalade, and without artillery." D' 
Iberville excelled in this difficult and sanguinary mode 
of warfare. He was no less distinguished as a mariner, 
and had he remained in France, would have reached the 
highest grades in his profession. He engaged in a num- 
ber of combats on the sea, sometimes against superior 
forces, and he was always victorious. He tv.'ice carried 
on a most desolating w^ar, against the English posses- 
sions in New Foundland, and took its capital ; he con- 
quered Pemaquid in Acadia, subdued the territory around 
Hudson's Bav, founded Louisiana, and terminated a 
most glorious career, before Havana in 1706, then ser- 
ving, as the Commander in Chief of the French Squad- 
ron.* Having been attacked with the yellow fever, 
his health for the last three or four years of his eventful 



• The work of Le Page Dupratz. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 87 

life, had become seriously impaired. The " colonies," 
(says Bancroft,) and the French Nav^ iost in him a hero, 
worthy of their regret." He was a man whom nature 
had endowed with the necessary qualifications to go 
through the difficult duties he had to perform. The 
Marquis of Denonville, who appreciated his talents, had 
recommended him to the French Court. In 1702, Louis 
the Fourteenth, who encouraged the young French no- 
bility in Canada, raised him from the grade of a Cap- 
tain of a Frigate to that of Commander of a man of 
war.* His death was a loss for Louisiana, for it is to 
be presumed, that had he lived longer, the colony would 
have made considerable progress ; but that illustrious 
mariner, whose authority was so great, being dead, a 
long period elapsed, before a new Governor arrived from 
France. 

Two years after the death of D'Iberville, M. Diron 
d'Artaguette came to Louisiana, in the capacity of Com- 



* Gazette of France of the 15th July, 1702. Historical notes and 
manuscripts of M. A. Berthelot, Esquire. The historical manuscripts 
in the possession of the family of the late Amable Berthelot, Esqr., 
Member of the Canadian Parliament are of considerable interest and 
have not yet been published. Jacques Viger, Esqr., late Mayor of 
the City of Montreal, Canada, is also in possession of manuscripts 
of great value relating to the early history of America. 



88 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY ' 

missaire-ordonnafeur, an office, which corresponded with 
that of Intendant in the old French Colonies, investing 
him with civil and military authority. Some authors 
mention, that D'Artaguette was named Governor, but 
this is an error. This new functionary worked with 
little success to put the Colony in a better condition, 
and the inhabitants had long complained of the hard- 
ships, they had to undergo. Neither the soil nor the 
climate was adapted for agricultural or industrial pursuits, 
and they wished to return to their native country. 
However, they entertained quite a contrary opinion in 
Europe of the capability and resources of Louisiana, 
and notwithstanding France was then engaged in a 
most disastrous war, her possessions in America contin- 
ued to attract a great deal of attention. In the course 
of this war the Island of Dauphine suffered much from 
the depredations of corsairs and pirates, and in the year 
1711, they caused a damage to the Colonists, which was 
estimated at eighty thousand francs. D'Artaguette was 
not the man, who ought to have been chosen to direct 
the affairs of the Colony, at that critical period. He 
was weak-minded and vaclilating, and his conduct was 
in striking contrast with that of D'Iberville, who infus- 
ed a spirit of energy and determination amongst the peo- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 89 

pie. "A Colony (says Raynal *) founded on such an 
uncertain basis, could never prosper." The death of 
D'Iberville had spread consternation amongst them and 
having lost their leader, they vv^ere thrown into a state 
of despair. The Colonists thought, they were about 
being totally abandoned by France, and sought other lo- 
calities, where they hoped to find better means of liv- 
ing. Towards the end of the year 1711, there were 
but twenty-eight families remaining, and these w£r£ re- 
duced to a state of the greatest misery. 

The French possessions in America were in the state 
in which they are 'herein described, wh^n in the year 
1712, Crozat demanded and obtained from the King of 
France the monopoly of the commerce of Louisiana, 
for a period of sixteen years. 

It is however necessary, that we should direct our at- 
tention to what was occurring in the North Western 



* The Abbe Raynal whose work on the '^ History of the two Indies," 
icxcited such attention at the time of its publication and increased his 
reputation, as an author and a statesman. His " Essay on the Amer- 
ican Revolution," is justly esteemed as a master-piece of fine writing 
and pure philosophy. This work contributed much to enlighten the 
public mind in Europe, as to the true character of the contest, be- 
tween the Colonies and England. Many passages in it are truly elo- 
quent. 

8* 



90 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

portion of the Continent, before we refer to any other 
matters, connected with the colonization of the south- 
ern part of America. 

Mr. Bancroft says,* that before 1693, the Reverend 
Father Gravier began a mission among the IlUnois, and 
became the founder of Kaskaskia, though it is not 
known in what year it was estabhshed. This presump- 
tion is founded on the contents of a letter, written by 
the Reverend Gabriel Marest, dated ^^ Jlux Kaskaskias, 
autrement dit P hnmaculee Co7iception de la Sainte Vi- 
erge, le 9 J^ovemhre, 1712, in which mention is made of 
there having been for some years/ an establishment at 
this point. He further states, that soon after the foun- 
ding of Kaskaskia, Cahokia and Peoria were establish- 
ed. These statements are repeated in " Perkins' An- 
nals of the West,! and the authority, on which they 
are based, seems to be taken from a work, published in 
Paris in 1781, 'Lettres edijiantes,' 328, 339, 375. I 
have not seen any account, in the French histories, of 
the establishment of any place as a permanent settlement 
before that of the Forts Miami and Crevecoeur, and in 
an old map in my possession^ which was pubhshed in 



I 



• Bancroft vol. 3d, 195. 

f Perkins Annals of the Weit., page 55. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 



91 



France after the year 1738, descriptive of America, 
whilst in the occupation of the Indian tribes, I observe a 
river, marked on this chart, as running in a South West- 
erly direction from Detroit, and named the " River St. 
Jerome, by which the Canadians come from Quebec," 
(Riviere St. Jerome par ou les Canadiens viennent de Que- 
bec.) The outlet of this river is at a place, called " Fort 
Staquado,'' on the Ohio, which if it be the Wabash, as I 
am inclined to believe, this Fort must have occupied the 
site, at the junction of that river with the Ohio. The 
Canadians generally followed the course of the rivers, and 
the geographer, by indicating the river St. Jerome, as the 
course which they took, it is rather singular if it be the 
Wabash, that they should not have established them- 
selves, along the shores of that river and the Ohio, and 
the Southern branch of the Mississippi, before they as- 
cended as high up the river as the present sites of Kas- 
kaskia and Cahokia. These latter settlements are not 
marked on this old chart, and although the geographers 
of that period may not have been very remarkable for 
accuracy in describing the country, nevertheless I am 
inclined to entertain doubts, whether other places were 
not established before the Canadians had settled either 
in Kaskaskia or Cahokia, In my opinion, Fort Creve- 



92 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

ccEur,* near Peoria, Illinois, might claim the honor of 
being the first permanent settlement of the " white men" 
in the West, for as we are informed, it was founded by 
La Salle, its claims to precedence in this respect are bet- 
ter, than those of either of the places w^hich have been 
named. The matter is not of much importance, but as 
a historical fact, is worthy of further inquiry. 

The historian Hennepin had" said, " that those who 
would have the happiness, at some future period, to pos- 
sess the lands of this agreeable and fertile country, w^ould 
be under lasting obligations to those travellers, who show- 
ed them the way, and crossed Lake Erie, after a hun- 
dred leagues of difficult navigation." These w^ordshad 



** Some writers, amongst others "Coxe's Coralana," at page 32 of 
his work, says, that Fort Crevecosur was built on the south east 
BANK of the River Illinois, others locate it differently. In the histor- 
ical view of Peoria^ published lately by S. Dewitt Drown, there is a plan 
of the Fort, which is located by the writer, "at two or three miles 
East of Peoria." Like other matters of historical inquiry, relating to 
discoveries in the "West such as the dates of the establishments of 
Towns, villages, &c., nothing can be stated with certainty. In Mr. 
Drown's work, and the Rev. Mr. Peck's able sketches, which w^ere 
concluded in the Republican of this City, on the 17th of August last 
may be found much useful and valuable information. Judge Breeze's 
labours on this subject and Mr. Primm's able address are too wdl 
.known to need any reference to them. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 93 

hardly been pronounced, when in June 1700, M. de la 
Motte Cadillac, arrived at Detroit, with a hundred Ca- 
nadians and a Missionary, to form an establishment. 
The colonists were delighted with the beauty of the 
country and the mildness of the climate. In the lan- 
guage of the writers of that period, " Nature spread its 
charms over the face of that delightful country." With 
its surface slightly undulated by picturesque elevations, 
its green prairies, its forests of oak, and of maple, in- 
termingled here and there with specimens of the wild 
acacia, its running streams, and the beautiful small 
islands, dotted over the surface of its lakes, there was 
every thing to attract the attention and enrapture the 
imaginations of the newly arrived Colonists, particularly 
after leaving the bleak hills and snowy vales of Canada, 
their native country. Even at the present day, the Ca- 
nadians, in the midst of their more enterprising breth- 
ren, still linger around the old homesteads of their an- 
cestors, in that section of Michigan, and in the markets 
of Detroit, the old Canadian vehicles are to be found, 
in striking contrast with the more novel inventions of 
their industrious neighbours. 

About this period, 1701, the English Colonists in 
America w^ere beginning to be alarmed at the important 
position the French were assuming, in relation to the 



94 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

affairs of this Continent. The latter power being in 
possession of Canada and the country bordering on the 
Great Lakes, was the rival of England, whose Colonies, 
were situated, near the seaboard. The policy of the 
French Government was to extend their sovereignty in 
the interior of America, and they could only do so, by 
cultivating the friendly feelings of the powerful Indian 
tribes, who wandered over the country. It was a vast 
and gigantic plan, which the ministers of Louis the Four- 
teenth had formed for the subjugation of this continent. 
They contemplated the establishment of a chain of forts, 
extending from Canada, on the one hand, to Louisiana, 
on the other, and with the Mississippi as their western 
boundary, they thought, it would not be difficult to 
drive away the English and obtain exclusive possession 
of the country. At that period, the British Colonies 
did not exceed two hundred and twenty-five thousand in 
population ; they were scattered over an immense tract 
of country, from Massachusetts on the one hand, to the 
Carolinas on the other, and there was no concerted 
plan of action between them. The New England 
States did not comprise much more than one hundred 
thousand men, many of whom were engaged in agricultu- 
ral pursuits, whenever their enemies, (the Indians) ceased 
from carrying on their predatory excursions, and afforded 



I 
I 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 95 

an opportunity of employing themselves, in rural labour. 
The Jibenakis were then a powerful tribe, whose strong- 
holds were situated on their Northern frontier and they 
gave the Colonists quite sufficient trouble, in resisting 
their encroachments, without interfermg in the contests, 
which were carried on, between the French and the 
other tribes, in the interior. 

This led to that passive state, in which the British 
Colonists remained, up to the period of the Treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, when from their increased 
numbers and powerful influence, they were commencing 
to give another direction to affairs, on this Continent. 

But four years had elapsed, since the settlement of 
Detroit, when the flames of war were again kindled and it 
required all the energy and activity of the Marquis de 
Vaudreuil, the Governor General of Canada, to quell 
the turbulent spirit of the Iroquoise confederation. The 
latter were the complete masters of the country, and 
their alliance was courted by both the French and the 
English. During this period and for a number of years, 
the cause of colonization was greatly impeded by these 
unremitting hostilities on the part of the Indian tribes. 
The history of this period is replete with accounts of 
the encroachments of the Indian tribes, on the French 
possessions in the West, and of the measures which they 



96 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

adopted to repel them. The slightest cause was imme- 
diately seized hold of, to declare war between these nu- 
merous and powerful tribes and their weak enemies, the 
French. Several voyageurs from Canada travelled 
through the Western country for purposes of trade, but 
we read of no further settlements in the West for a num- 
ber of years. The historical records of this period, re- 
lating to the discovery of the West, are very incomplete, 
and it is only of late years that any attention has been 
bestowed on the subject. These records consist almost 
exclusively of the " Relations of the Jesuits," several 
of whose works have only been lately discovered.* 

From the year 1714 to 1728, there v/as nothing inter- 
esting in the annals of military warfare, in the West. 
In this year, however, the Canadians were again called 
to arms, and equipped an expedition, which is worthy 



* Dr. O'Callaghan, author of the "History of New Netherlands" 
and the compiler of several valuable State papers, relating to the His- 
tory of New York, has lately published a list of the works, which the 
Jesuits wrote, on the early history of this country. This small pub- 
lication has since been translated into French, by Jacques Viger, Es- 
quire, of Montreal, with several notes and corrections. It is a valu- 
able compendium of the works of these writers. 

We have also lately heard of the discovery of other ^' Relations" or 
accounts of their voyages in the West, in one of the J.ibraries, in 
Rome. 



\ 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 97 

of being mentioned, in the long contests, which ensu- 
ed between the Iroquoise confederation and the French, 
there is nothing remarkable, excepting that the history 
of this period is replete with accounts of most sanguin- 
ary battles, of these being followed by truces, which, 
almost as soon as they were entered into, were again 
broken and gave rise to scenes of the wildest disorder. 
Predatory excursions were made by roving Indians in 
the forest, into the settlements of the French at Detroit 
and Illinois, and it was difficult to exercise summary 
punishment on those offenders, who took refuge within 
the recesses of the forest. But in the beginning of the 
year 1728, the Outagamis, whose strongholds were sit- 
uated on the shores of Lake Michigan, caused great an- 
noyance to the French, by their frequent depredations 
and attacks on the settlement, at Detroit. This nation 
was distinguished for its peculiar mode of warfare and 
had become the object of the hatred of all the other 
tribes in the West. They were ferocious, cunning and 
cruel, they had resisted all attempts at overtures, on the 
part of the French, to enter into friendly relations with 
them, and although they suffered many defeats, no soon- 
er were they dispersed, than they again appeared in in- 
creased numbers and committed great havoc and plun- 
der. A military expedition was fitted out, to reduCQ 

9 



98 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

them to submission. It was placed under the command 
of M. de Ligneris and consisted of four hundred and 
fifty Canadians, and seven or eight hundred Indians, 
They left Montreal, in the commencement of June, and 
proceeded by a Northwardly course, to the point of their 
destination. They arrived at Michilimackmac, on the 
first of August, and at the head of Lake Michigan on 
the fourteenth of that month, after two months and 
nine days travelling. After a few engagements with a 
tribe, called " Les Malhomines or Folles-avoines," in 
which they were successful, they proceeded to the villa- 
ges and hunting grounds of the Outagamis, which they 
found deserted, and after wandering about in those lo- 
calities, for a short time, they retraced their steps and 
returned home. It was during this expedition, that the 
French directed their attention more particularly to fur- 
ther discoveries in the North West. They had succeed- 
ed in tracing the course of the tw^o great rivers and of 
all the great Lakes, in the Northern part of the Conti- 
nent, they had ascended the tributaries of the Missis- 
sippi, which take their sources in the Rocky Mountains, 
they had even attempted to find a North Western pas- 
sage to the Pacific, but in this they did not succeed, al- 
though we read in the works of Lepage Dupratz, that 
an Indian of the name of Yazou had accomplished the 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 99 

journey. The French had tried on several occasions to 
find a passage across the mountains to the Ocean, but 
I do not find it recorded in any work, to which I have 
had access, that they were successful in attaining their 
object. About this period (1729) the attention of the 
French Government was directed to the prosecution of 
further discoveries in America, and for a few years they 
made several fruitless attempts to engage navigators and 
traders to direct their steps North westerly, in the 
hope of finding the Ocean. But few were found to under- 
go the dangers and perils of the journey, and it was only 
in the year 1738, that an expedition was formed, under 
the auspices of M. de Beauharnais, the Governor, the 
object of which was to make further discoveries, in the 
North west. M. de Maurepas was foremost in setting 
this enterprise on foot, he was the Minister of France, 
at that period, and was evidently a man of great genius 
and learning, full of enterprise, and resolved to carry 
on with vigor the great work of exploration, on this 
Continent. He chose M. de la Verandrve to be the 
Chief of the expedition. This man had neither the en- 
ergy nor the ambition of Perrot or La Salle, but he had 
some experience in travelling in the forests and a satis- 
factory result might have been expected from his la- 
bours. He left Canada in the year 1738, with orders to 



100 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

take possession of all the countries he might discover, 
in the name of the French King, and to examine atten- 
tively, what advantages might be obtained from estab- 
lishino; a communication between Canada or Louisiana 
and the Pacific ocean. The Government contemplated 
the extension of trading posts to the North West as far 
as the ocean, and the acquisition of great wealth from 
the peltries and other products, furnished by the Indians. 
At that period, the attention of Europeans began to be 
directed towards the countries, in the North Western 
part of America, and although their researches had not 
as yet proved very successful, they thought, they would 
at no distant day realize the advantages, which would 
arise from the discovery of this Continent, and the 
unbounded wealth, which they fondly imagined, was 
contained within the limits of the Western Hemisphere. 
They knew not to what point, the boundaries of Amer- 
ica extended, and as their bold and fearless adventurers 
had advanced within the recesses of the forest, they 
found there was no limit, no end to their journey ; they 
were always proceeding in a Westerly course, and yet 
they did not meet with the Ocean ; it seemed to them, 
as if this long looked for object receded as they advanc- 
ed, that it was a mere dream of the imagination. Many 
of them returned disheartened to their country, and 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 101 

abandoned the project, as one, which was fraught with 
danger and difficulties of no ordinary character, and 
which even if they succeeded in accomplishing, would 
be attended with little benefit to them. M. de la Ver- 
andrye passed Lake Superior, advanced towards the foot 
of Lake Winnepeg and then ascending the River Assin- 
niboil, approached the Rocky Mountains, which he did 
not however reach, having become engaged in a war 
with the Indians, in which he lost several of his men 
and becoming disconcerted at the difficulties, which sur- 
rounded him, he abandoned the enterprise and returned 
to Canada. This traveller mentioned to the learned 
Swedish historian Kalm, whom he afterwards met in the 
year 1749, that he discovered in the territory, to the 
North West, at a distance of nine hundred leagues from 
Montreal, massive stone columns of great height and 
durability, in some instances, one placed over the other, 
forming a kind of wall, and in others, consisting of one 
large block only ; he does not mention, that there were 
any superscriptions or words, marked on these stones, 
with the exception of one of the size of about one foot 
in length, by about four or five inches in breadth, on 
both sides of which were some unknown marks, resem- 
bling letters, the meaning of which they did not under- 
stand. This small stone was afterwards sent to the Sec- 

9* 



102 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

retary of State, in Paris. Many of the missionaries, 
whom Kalm saw in Canada, assured him, that the let- 
ters, which were engraved on it, resembled very much 
those, which were in use amongst the Tartars, and from 
this circumstance and others, which w^ere afterwards 
mentioned by other travellers, must have originated the 
belief, w^hich was very generally entertained, in the 
commencement of the eighteenth century, of the exis- 
tence of a great Asiatic emigration of tribes from Tar- 
tary, the progenitors of at least a part of the Indian 
tribes, wandering over the Continent. The late discov- 
eries in Central America would also tend to fortify this 
hypothesis.* However it may be, it gave rise to some 
very learned disquisitions, amongst the French and Span- 
ish savanSy to account for the origin of our Indian tribes. 
The voluminous and elaborate works of De Pauw and 
Bailli d'Engel, may be enumerated amongst the former, 
whilst the work of Gregorio Garcias, in folio " Origen 
de los Indios de el JVuovo Mundo et Indios Occiden- 
tales'' published in Madrid, in the year 1729, may be 
mentioned amongst the latter. There has been no ques- 



* P. F. Cabrera, 'Description of an Ancient City, discovered in the 
Kingdom of Guatemala,' London quarto, 1822. 
f Stephen's Travels in Central America. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 103 

tion, even in modern times, on which such a vast amount 
of learning has been expended, as that, respecting the 
origin of the savage tribes of this Continent, and 
althouo-h volumes have been written on this abstruse 
subject, we are yet as much in the dark, as ever, as to 
the manner, in which this Continent first became inhabi- 
ted. 

The French gave the name of the Country of the 
Western Ocean, ''^ Pays de la mer de POuesf to the 
territory, discovered by M. de la Verandrye, because 
they thought, it was not far from the sea ; they estab- 
lished a chain of small trading posts, to keep the Indi- 
ans under subjection, and to carry on their commerce in 
peltries. The post which was at the greatest distance 
from any settlement of the French, was called " Queens 
Post ;" it was situated at about a hundred leagues, to 
the West of Lake Winnepeg, on the Assinniboil river. 
Three other forts or posts were afterwards erected to the 
West of Queen's Post, the farthest one being called 
Pascoyac, after the river of that name. 

Under the administration of M. de la Jonquiere, 
another expedition was set on foot, having the same ob- 
ject in view. The French Intendant Bigot was then in 
Canada ; for the purpose of trading with the Indians, as 
well as to make discoveries, he formed an association, 



104 HIStO&Y O^ ¥HE VALLEY 

which consisted of the Governor and himself, M. Breard, 
Comptroller of the Marine, Legardeur de St. Pierre, an 
officer, distinguished for his bravery and well liked by 
the Indians, and De Marin, a Sea-Captain, held in great 
fear by the Savages, for the cruelty of his disposition. 
To the two latter, was assigned the accomplishment of 
the objects of the Association. Marin was to ascend 
the Missouri, in order to discover if there were another 
river flowing to the Ocean, whilst St, Pierre was to take 
the direction of Queen's Post, and endeavor to meet his 
fellow-traveller, at some point, which was designated 
by them. The object, which they had in view to make 
scientific discoveries in the West, appeared however to 
be subordinate to that of amassing wealth from their 
voyage, for they returned, after a short journey, bring- 
ing back with them a large quantity of peltries, the 
value of which was immense and served to swell the 
coffers of the Association. 

We read of no further discoveries, in the North 
Western part of this Continent, which are worthy of 
being mentioned, unless it be those made by American 
travellers, at a much later period, whose efforts in the 
cause of the colonization of the West yield only in in- 
terest to what the early pioneers accomplished in the 
discovery of the Valley of the Mississippi. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 105 

In the year 1735, the tocsin of war was again heard 
and although, hostilities did not commence until several 
years after, preparations were being made by the two 
great antagonistic nations, on this Continent, in their 
struggle for ascendency. In this year (1735) M. de 
Van Ransaeller, Patroon or Lord of the Manor, in Al- 
bany, New York, paid a visit to the Governor in Cana- 
da, and informed him, that there was a more favorable 
feeling existing between the people of that Colony, and 
those on the other side of the frontier, and deprecating 
(even if war should break out,) any hostile proceedings, 
between the Fi'ench and the English settlers, in that 
Colony. In 1740, war between England and France, 
appeared to be more imminent than ever, and M. de 
Beauharnais, under orders from the French Court, put 
the fortresses of Chambly, St. Frederick and Niagara, in 
a state of defence. He also courted the alliance of the 
Indian tribes, whose assistance would greatly contribute 
to the success of his cause. Their assistance was very 
desirable, in as much, as at that period (1741) there 
were upwards of fifteen thousand able-bodied men, who 
were reckoned as warriors, amongst the Indian tribes, 
from the territory occupied by the Abenaquis to the 
North, to the Mobiliens and Choctaws to the South. 

We shall now recur to what was passing in the South 



106 HIStORY OP THfi VALlEY 

Western portion of America, but before we conclude 
this part of our subject, we cannot but express our re- 
gret, that the historical records, contained in the ac- 
counts of the Missionaries, relating to the discoveries 
in the North West are so unsatisfactory and incomplete, 
that it is almost impossible to enter more extensively 
into the narration of facts, bearing on this interesting 
subject of inquiry. With further developments, made 
in the works of the early missionaries (some in manu- 
script) which are, now and then, being discovered in 
the libraries on the Continent of Europe, no doubt, 
most important information will be obtained and the la- 
bours of the student of the history of this period will 
be greatly facilitated.* 

We haVe already mentioned, that in the year 1712, 
Crozat obtained, from the French Government, the ex- 
clusive privilege of trading with Louisiana, for a period 
of sixteen years. The Crown of France was then en- 
gaged in hostile preparations, for the part it vras taking 



* We read in the Public Journals, a short time ago, of the discov*- 
ery of several old manuscripts of the Missionaries, in a library, be- 
longing to the Dominican Friars, in Rome. It would be worth while 
for any one, to make further researches in the libraries in Continen- 
tal Europe. He would no doubt, obtain a mass of information,which 
would be of great interest to the American reader. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 107 

in the affairs of the Spanish succession, and but little 
attention was directed to the colonization of its territo- 
ries in the southern part of this Continent. Govern- 
ment relied more on the energies of private associations 
or individual enterprise, to carry out its plans, for the 
development of the resources of this country, and it 
was with this view, that it delegated a part of its au- 
thority to a French merchant, who had acquired a large 
fortune in his commercial undertakings, and who had 
already been of great service to the Government, in 
bringing into France a considerable quantity of the 
precious metals, when her finances were being nearly 
exhausted and she stood greatly in need of such assist- 
ance. This merchant was Crozat. He had been named 
Secretary and Counsellor of the Royal household and 
held an important place, in the department of finances. 
To the exclusive grant, with which he had been invest- 
ed of trading with the Colony, was added the privilege 
of exploring and working whatever mines might be 
found and Crozat set about the performance of his task, 
with his mind intent on the great advantages, which 
would spring from the enterprise. 

Louis the Fourteenth, named M. de la Motte Cadillac, 
Governor in place of M. de Muys, who died on his way 
to America. M. Duclos had the office of Cominissaire 



108 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

ordonnafeur (a Commissioner with extended authority, 
but subordinate to that of the Governor) in the place 
of M. d'Artaguette, who had returned to France, and a 
Superior Council was established, for three years, com- 
posed of these two functionaries, and a Clerk, with 
power to add to their number. This Council was a 
general tribunal for civil and criminal matters, with an 
unlimited jurisdiction, as to the amount involved, or the 
nature of the offence. Their proceedings were to be 
regulated by the Customs of Paris.* M. de la Motte 
Cadillac disembarked in Louisiana, in the year 1713, 
and in order to give him an interest in the commerce of the 
Colony, Crozat had associated him, as a partner in the 
concern. At that period, Louisiana was only looked 
upon, as a great entrepot for Commerce with the neigh- 
boring countries, but little w^ealth was found within its 
borders, and the people were in a depressed condition, 
arising out of the difficulty of fmding a market, for 

* The customs of Paris, were certain traditionary regulations, which 
from their antiquity had obtained the force of law, within the pre- 
voTE or vicoMTE of the City of Paris, and were. I believe, reduced 
to writing under the reign of Charles the Seventh of France. They 
are to this day in force in the Province of Lower Canada, and form 
the whole of the municipal law of that country. They are justly es- 
teemed, as an excellent legal Code, by both French and English law- 
yers. 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 109 

their small surplus products. Crozat and Cadillac were 
alive to the emergency ; they loaded a vessel with differ- 
ent products for Vera Cruz, but the Vice Roy of Mexi- 
co, acting under that exclusive commercial policy, which 
was then in full vigor, issued an order to prevent the 
disembarkation of the cargo, and directed that the vessel 
should withdraw from the harbour. Notwithstanding the 
result of this first attempt, Cadillac was not discouraged 
and resolved to make a trial by land. He chose M. Juche- 
reau de St. Denis, an intrepid Canadian voyageur, who 
had been in Louisiana for about fourteen years.* This 
traveller made two voyages in Mexico, and after having 
encountered several adventures of a rather romantic 
character, he returned from his second journey, in April, 
1719, having accomplished but little during the excur- 
sion. Whilst the Governor of Louisiana was seekinor 
for a market for the surplus products of the Colony, or 
the goods, which he had brought with him from France, 
he also sent emissaries to trade with the Natchez and 
other tribes on the Mississippi, amongst whom they 
found several Englishmen from Virginia, who were es- 
tablished in that quarter, and w^ho had as much difficulty 
in quellijig the turbulent spirit of the Chickasas as their 



• Le Page Dupratz work. 

10 



110 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

own countrymen had in their previous relations, with 
the Iroquois or Five Nations. The same contest, which 
had been so frequently witnessed between rival tribes in 
the North, was now being carried on in the South, and 
whilst some were friendly and actuated by proper mo- 
tives, in their relations with the Europeans, others were 
found, who were inclined to pursue a contrary course, 
and to visit the aggressions of their neighbours, wath un- 
relenting fury. On the one hand, we find, about this 
time, (1720) several tribes with the Alabamous and the 
Chactas making excursions into the Carolinas, and com- 
mitting the most frightful ravages, whilst on the other 
the Natchez contemplated the destruction of their 
French neighbours, which was only prevented by the 
energy and promptitude, with which the Governor acted. 
It was on this occasion, that the Natchez found them- 
selves compelled to make amends for their conduct, for 
with the force, which De Bienville, who was in com- 
mand in this campaign, had with him, he made these 
savages erect a Fort, in the very midst of their village, 
to serve as a protection for those, whom they had intend- 
ed to destroy. It was the first act of humiliation, to 
which the Chief of the Natchez was obliged to submit, 
and it must have wounded his pride, to find himself re- 
duced to such subjection, especially for one, who pre- 



II 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. Ill 

tended to be descended from the Sun, and who bore the 
name, as a mark of his superiority amongst the tribes, 
and as a reflection of the light of that great luminary, 
amongst the benighted nations of America. This Fori, 
at Natchez on the Mississippi, was built on an eminence 
of two hundred feet in height and was called RosaL'e, 
after the name of Madame de Pontchartrain, whor.e 
husband being a Minister of State, was the guardian 
and protector of the Lemoine family, from which D<j 
Bienville sprung. It was in the following year (1715) 
that M. de Tisne founded Natchitoches, now a rich and 
flourishing city, on Red river in Louisiana. 

Notwithstanding this success against the Indian tribes, 
Crozat's prospects in Louisiana were becoming every 
day more desperate ; he had hardly been there four 
years, when he observed the little commerce^ that he 
found on his arrival in a languishing state. The mon- 
opoly with which the French King had invested him, 
seemed to crush all spirit of enterprise, amongst the 
people, for before his arrival, the inhabitants of Mobile, 
and of the Island of Dauphiny exported provisions, 
timber and furs to Pensacola, the Islands of Martinique, 
St. Domingo, and to France, and received back in ex- 
change, the merchandise and other articles, which they 
required to trade with the Indians, but Crozat had no 



112 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

sooner exercised the exclusive privileges granted to him 
by the French Government, than they were obliged to 
abandon this, their only source of trade, and hence, 
their depressed condition, a few years after his arrival 
amongst them. There were no longer to be seen any 
vessels, arriving from or sailing to the West India 
Islands, and Crozat prohibited all commerce with the 
Spaniards at Pensacola, so that they were restricted in 
the use of specie, which they obtained in the trade with 
them, and they were not allowed to traffic, excepting 
with Crozat's agents, and at prices which were fixed by 
them. The price of furs, was fixed so low, that they 
directed their attention to dealing with the Canadian 
traders, who gave them higher prices, and this hitherto 
profitable branch of Colonial commerce, which had en- 
riched the people of Louisiana now sought other chan- 
nels, in which more remunerating prices could be obtain- 
ed for these products. Crozat could not fail to perceive 
the altered state of affairs in the Colony and he ad- 
dressed several remonstrances to the French Govern- 
ment, which met with no attention whatsoever. Having 
made heavy advances to promote the prosperity of the 
country and finding all his endeavours to carry on a profit- 
able trade with Mexico, had failed, disconcerted at the 
state of apathy, which seemed to exist, amongst the 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 113 

Colonists, and alarmed at his future prospects, Crozat 
adopted the resolution of surrendering to the French 
Government all the privileges, which were granted to 
him, by the Royal Charter, which he accordingly did, 
and thus this monopoly ceased, which was certainly 
attended with very disastrous results to the Colony. 

No sooner was this monopoly surrendered into the 
hands of the French Government, than another and a 
more exclusive one was established, certainly not more 
fortunate in its results, but exercising a more immediate 
and important bearing on the prospects and fortunes of 
the French Colonists, in America. The establishment 
of the great "Western Company," which was to im- 
mortalize the name of John Law and to connect it with 
schemes, involving the ruin of many a family, was the 
next measure which was adopted by the French Govern- 
ment, with a view to promote the colonization of Louis- 
iana. How far this was adapted to forward the objects 
for which it was established, has become matter of general 
history, and the failure of the scheme, whilst it was felt 
more seriously in Europe, operated greatly to retard the 
advancement of the French Colonies, in America. The 
great "Mississippi bubble" as it was called, was a plain, 
palpable failure, but as it had a wonderful effect, in di- 
recting public attention to the affairs of the New 

10* 



114 HISTORY OP THE VALLEY 






World, its plan and ultimate operation are worthy of 
being mentioned. 

A Scotch adventurer, by the name of John Law, 
being desirous of attracting public attention by some 
grand scheme, in which he was to take a prominent part, 
availed himself of the deplorable state of the French 
finances, to attain the object, which he had in view. 
Naturally of an ardent temperament and great genius, 
he had applied himself to the study of the science of 
political economy and in the depressed state of financial 
affairs in France, he conceived, that that country was the 
fittest scene, to commence his labours. Accordingly, 
hither he repaired and with the sanction of the then 
Regent, he began the establishment of a Bank, in the 
year 1716, consisting of a capital formed of twelve 
hundred shares, at a thousand crowns, (^ecus) each. 
With the knowledge he had obtained from his previous 
studies in a science, which had not then been dignified 
by the application of such minds, as Turgot and Smith, 
he appeared before the reigning monarch in France, as a 
person, who could retrieve the country from all its em- 
barrassments, and his schemes, plausible at first, were 
received with great favof by the Government. What 
an unexpected and almost infallible remedy his project 
appeared to be, to sink the national debt of France, 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 115 

which had increased to such an enormous sum, that the 
Government was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the 
confidence of the people in its stability was all but lost? 
The paper money, and the imaginary gold and silver 
mines of Louisiana were to be the grand panacea for 
all the evils, under which France laboured. We can 
only account for the readiness, with which these schemes 
were adopted and so favorably received at the time, by 
the deplorable state, to which France was reduced, and 
these illusions, which would have vanished at any other 
period, as so many idle dreams of the imagination, were 
eagerly seized upon by the King, the Ministers and peo- 
ple, and even spread abroad, amongst neighbouring 
nations. They only show how credulous is the human 
mind in moments of difficulty and danger, and how 
easily the most hopeless project is adopted to afford 
relief to temporary evils. Such was Law's system, and 
such it turned out to be. Alluring in its prospects, and 
holding out hopes of the acquisition of enormous wealth 
from the existence of fabulous mines of the precious 
metals, along the shores of the Mississippi, thousands 
were found, who readily embarked in the undertaking, 
and thousands met with a disastrous fate, involving their 
families and themselves in ruin. To the acute and pene- 
trating qualities of Law's mind, he saw at once, that 



116 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

he might work on the foundation, which had been laid 
by other travellers and writers in America, and the 
superstructure, which he raised, on which the too credu- 
lous people gazed with admiration, and which they 
thought would be enduring, was nevertheless doomed to 
fall to the ground, with a crash, which w^ould involve 
all in its ruins. 

Ponce de Leon had no sooner reached the shores of 
Florida in 1512, than he spread a report abroad, that 
the country was filled with precious metals. Neither 
Philippe de Narvaez, nor Ferdinand de Soto had discov- 
ered any gold mines, although they had been for years 
in search of them. The French and the Spaniards had 
made many unsuccessful attempts to seek for riches in 
the bowels of the earth, and at this period, but vague 
suspicions were entertained in America even amongst 
those, who were most sanguine at first, of the existence 
of mines in Louisiana or the colonies adjacent thereunto, 
but in Europe a contrary opinion had always prevailed ; 
they fancied in tbeir imaginations, that some day or 
other, the earth would yield up its wealth, and the peo- 
ple of Europe would be enriched by the enormous quan- 
tity of the precious metals, which would be brought 
from America. How idle the hope ! how fatal the delu- 
sion I yet John Law found in the very existence of that 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 117 

belief all the success, which he expected from his vis- 
ionary schemes. 

The new banking institution, which he established 
served as a means to prop up for a time the public 
credit, and it certainly did some good, in meeting its 
obligations, and was a source of great convenience, but 
its operations were necessarily limited, and the thoughts 
of its projector were directed more than ever to the 
gold mines of Louisiana, and the wealth he expected in 
that quarter. In the year 1717, the " Western Com- 
pany," (Compagnie (F Occident) was again re-establish- 
ed, with Law for its director, and Louisiana was ceded 
to the Company, with other privileges, including the 
tobacco trade and the commerce with Senegal. From 
the unlimited terms of the charter, it was intended, as at 
first, in Crozat's case, to be a monopoly and it is impos- 
sible to say, whether it was attended with advantage or 
disadvantage, in the then state of the Colony. In Cro- 
zat's case, it had certainly proved unsuccessful, but the 
Colony had become so reduced, that nothing could 
hardly render the condition of the people worse. 

However it might be, the shares of the Western 
Company were paid for in State notes, Qnllets d'Etat,) 
which were taken at par, although they were not worth 
more than fifty per cent, in commerce. In a moment. 



118 History op the valley 

the capital of a hundred millions was taken up, each 
being anxious to be the holder of paper scrip, which 
they expected would be shortly paid in gold and 
silver, from the mines of Louisiana. The creditors of 
the Government, who thought they were ruined by the 
enormous depreciation of the national finances, eagerly 
laid hold of this speculation, as their only means of 
safety. Rich men embarked nearly all their property in 
the undertaking, and men of all classes and ranks in 
society united in availing themselves of its probable ad- 
vantages. Not satisfied with holding shares, in this 
great Mississippi bubble, they directed their attention to 
acquiring landed estates in the South, and the people of 
France, Switzerland and England vied with each other 
to send the greatest number of emigrants to the land of 
promise, where after three years service, to defray the 
expenses of the voyage, hopes were held out to them, 
that they would become proprietors and have a perma- 
nent interest in the soil. 

In the mean time, the Governor and chief Commis- 
sioner of Louisiana had been removed from office, and 
M. de I'Espinay succeeded M. de la Motte Cadillac and 
M. Hubert took Duclos' place ; some time after M. de 
Bienville was appointed Commander in Chief of all 
Louisiana. The French then occupied Biloxi, the Island 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 119 

of Dauphine, Mobile, Natchez, and Natchitoches on 
Red river. They had also commenced establishments in 
other parts of the country. Biloxi had become the 
chief pLice of business, and the Port of Isle Dauphine 
was abandoned for the more convenient location at Ves- 
sel Island, (^Isle aux Vaisseaux.) All these places were 
situated on or near the sea-shore, thus showing, that the 
early settlers placed more dependence on the arts of 
commerce, than on agricultural pursuits, the country 
near Biloxi and the sea being unfit for such a purpose. 
At this period (1717,) the attention of the Colonists was 
directed to the choice of a location for a City, on the 
banks of the Mississippi, and they selected a spot, on 
the left shore, about thirty leagues from the Sea, which 
De Bienville had before surveyed and which he thought, 
was the most favorable location for a great commercial 
emporium. In that year, this military officer with a 
few poor carpenters and other artisans went there, and 
laid the foundations of a City, which even to the present 
day, is the chief commercial metropolis of the South, 
and which he named New Orleans, in honor of the 
Duke of Orleans, then Regent of France. M. de Pail- 
loux was named Governor of the place, and it was only 
in the following year (1718,) that the first vessel arrived 
in the Port of New Orleans, where they were surprised 



120 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

to find Sixteen feet of water in the shallowest part of 
the Mississippi. It was not then generally believed, 
that the river was navigable so high up for vessels of a 
large class. It was only in the year, seventeen hundred 
and twenty-two, that the seat of Government was 
transferred to New Orleans, a delay, which was partly 
attributable to the reluctance of the Colonists to lose 
sight of the sea, and to go into the interior of the 
country. 

The " Western Company " was no sooner in posses- 
sion of Louisiana, than they began to organise a regular 
government and to encourage an extensive system of 
emigration, for the purpose of settling the country and 
working those mines, the produce of w^hich, they expect- 
ed would liquidate the national debt of France, which 
had increased to such an immense sum, that fears were 
entertained for the safety of the monarchy, and the sta- 
bility of the empire. In the new administration, De 
Bienville was named Governor General, and chief di- 
rector of the affairs of the Company, in America ; M. 
de Pailloux was appointed Major General with M. 
Dugue de Boisbriand^ as Commander in Illinois, and M. 
Diron, brother of the old Chief-commissioner, as Inspec- 
tor General of the Military forces. 

Louisiana was ceded to the Company in the year 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 121 

seventeen hundred and seventeen, and in the following 
spring eight hundred Colonists embarked at Rochelle, 
on board of three vessels for that country. There were 
several gentlemen and old officers on board of these ves- 
sels, amongst whom was M. Lepage Dupratz, whose in- 
teresting memoirs of the history of the South and West 
have already been mentioned in this work. These emi- 
grants were dispersed in different sections of the Colony. 
The gentfemen and officers had left their native Country 
in the hope of obtaining large concessions of land, 
wherein they wished to establish the feudal tenure, and 
to live as noblemen and lords of the manor, a system of 
seigniorial tenure, which had been before introduced into 
Canada. Law himself showed the example, he obtain- 
ed a land of four square leagues, in Arkansas, which 
was erected into a Dutchy, and he assembled fifteen hun- 
dred men, Germans and French, from the Provinces to 
inhabit the territory ; he intended also sending six thou- 
sand Germans from the Palatinate, to serve as vassals, 
under this new tenure. But it was at this period, (1720,) 
that the edifice, which he had erected with such care, 
fell to the ground, the vast schemes he had formed for 
ameliorating the financial condition of France proved 
abortive, and there arose a storm in that country, and 
its colonies in America, which, as a whirlwind, swept 

11 



122 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

everything before it, and involved the rich and the poor, 
the high and the low, the Metropolitan and the Colo- 
nist, in one common ruin, and shook the foundations of 
public and private fortunes, in the Old and the New 
Worlds. Its disasters fell heavily on Louisiana. The 
Western Company was still sending an immense number 
of emigrants to America, and many were on their jour- 
ney, when the celebrated " Mississippi bubble " burst 
and of course, they were left without means to provide 
for their wants, on their arrival in this new Country. 
They were disembarked on the sterile shores of Biloxi, 
after having suffered the fatigue of a long sea voyage, 
and here they were left unprovided for, and without be- 
ing able to obtain a livelihood. Never before the year 
1721, when this occurred, were the Colonists so numer- 
ous, there were not sufficient vessels at Biloxi to send 
them up the Mississippi, provisions failed, numbers were 
without food to eat, and more than five hundred died of 
starvation, of whom two hundred belonged to Law's 
establishment. Fear and melancholy operated on the 
minds of the Colonists, disunion and discord followed 
in their train, and companies were formed, (a Swiss 
company in particular,) who with their officers at their 
head left the colony in disgust and went over to Carolina.* 

* Charlevoix, " Journal historique." 



I 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 123 

It was in consequence of these disasters, that the 
Colonists made up their minds to abandon Biloxi, 
where they had met with nothing but misfortunes, and 
to select New Orleans, as their place of residence. In 
a short time, they became more reconciled to their em- 
barrassments and privations and set about looking for 
favorable locations, where they might depend for a 
while, on the pursuits of agriculture and the chase for 
subsistence. It was in this manner, that several settle- 
ments, now flourishing, were at first established. Had 
it not have been for the disasters at Biloxi, many j-ears 
might have elapsed before the Colonists w^ould have 
emigrated to the shores of the Mississippi, and as it 
turned out, these new settlements progressively advanc- 
ed, until they became permanent places for business, 
and the centres of a large commercial and agricultural 
population. The historian of the Indies, the celebrated 
Abbe Raynal, who regards emigration on an extensive 
scale, as the worst means for making a country thrive, 
views these gradual and progressive movements, as the 
certain indications of a well-founded prosperity, and of 
the rapid improvement of a new country. Besides the 
four or five principal towns, established at different peri- 
ods by the French, they laid the foundations of settle- 
ments, at Yazou, Baton-rouge, Bayou-goula, Scores- 



1-24 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

blancs, at Pointe-coupee, Black river, Paska-ogoula, and 
even as far as lilinois. Most of these places continue 
to thrive and are now important locations for business. 

Law's scheme had failed and the political economists 
of Europe were engaged in disputes, as to the wisdom 
of the plan he had formed, for ameliorating the finan- 
cial condition of France, amongst whom Raynal and 
Barbe Marbois, took opposite sides. The discussion 
was attended with very little benefit, inasmuch as the 
evils, which sprung from the system, were felt by the 
people, and were the best arguments to convince them 
of the utter absurdity of the project. At this crisis, in 
the history of the New World, events were transpiring 
in Europe, which had an important bearing on the 
affairs of America, and to these, it will be necessary to 
direct our attention. 

In the month of August 1718, the celebrated Quad- 
ruple alliance had been formed between the four great 
powers of Europe. The peace of Europe had been 
established, as it was supposed, on a solid and perma- 
nent basis, wdien through the intrigues of the celebrated 
*' Monk of Parma," Alberoni, the minister of Philip V, 
the flames of war were again illumined on the Europe- 
an Continent and France prepared for the contest with 
Spain. The circumstances which gave rise to this war. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 125 

partook somewhat of a romantic interest, and are de- 
tailed at length, in the histories of that period. The 
ambitious designs of Alberoni had been frustrated by 
the discovery of secret dispatches in the possession of 
the Abbe of Porto- Carrero, who had been intercepted 
on his way through the mountain passes of the Sierra- 
Morena, to confer w^ith the Spanish minister. England 
had also taken mnbrage at the proffered support, which 
Alberoni had promised to the young pretender, Prince 
Charles, and under colour of being a party to the alliance, 
willingly united with France, to crush the ambitious 
projects of the Cardinal-minister of Spain. M. de 
Serigny was sent to America, with three vessels, to take 
possession of Pensacola, a Spanish port, which was 
much needed by France, on account of its proximity to 
Louisiana, and its being so easily accessible, for purposes 
of trade with the West India Islands. Don John Peter 
Matamoras was in command of the garrison. The 
place being attacked by land, by seven hundred Canadi- 
ans, French and Indians, under the orders of M. de 
Chateauguay and by sea, by M. de Serigny, surrender- 
ed, (1719,) after a slight resistance and the garrison 
and part of the inhabitants embarked on board of two 
French vessels, for Havana. On their journey thither, 
they fell in with the Spanish fleet, which took posses- 
IP 



126 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

sion of them, and carried them as prizes into the port, 
which they had expected to enter as conquerors. 

The news of the surrender of Pensacola created a 
great sensation in New Spain and Mexico. The Vice 
Roy, the Marquis of Valero despatched a squadron, 
consisting of twelve vessels of war and carrying eight 
hundred and fifty men, under the command of Don Al- 
phonso Carrascosa to invest the Town. At the sight 
of the Spanish fleet, a part of the garrison deserted to 
the enemy, whilst M. de Chateauguay was also obliged 
to capitulate. Some of those who had surrendered 
were enlisted in the Spanish service, and a number of 
the deserters were treated with great severity by Car- 
rascosa, who confined them for a length of time, in the 
holds of the vessels. Don Matamoras was re-estabhsh- 
ed in command of the garrison at Pensacola, with suffi- 
cient troops, to defend the town, in case of another 
attack. 

After this victory, the Spanish Vice Roy resolved to 
drive away the Frencti from their possessions in Ameri- 
ca, and despatched Don Carnejo with a sufficient force 
to effect this object. Don Carrascosa was sent round to 
the Island of Dauphiny and Mobile, with a similar pur- 
pose in view, but bofh these expeditions were unsuccess- 
ful, and the Spaniards suffered nothing but disasters. 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 127 

A detachment of 4;roops, forming part of Carrascosa's 
command was completely routed by M. de Vilinville, at 
Mobile, whilst Carrascosa himself was repulsed at Guil- 
lory, a small Island near the Isle Dauphiny, around 
which he had been reconnoitering, to attempt to gain a 
favorable opportunity to attack the French. The brave 
Serigny was his competitor on this occasion, and with 
nearly equal forces compelled the Spanish General to 
depart from the Island- 

The French having been successful in their hostile 
measures against the Spaiiiards, now became in their 
turn the aggressors. Be Bienville again invested Pensa- 
cola by land, and the brave Count de Champmelin 
attacked it by sea. The combat was of short duration 
— Carrascosa had attempted to blockade the entry of 
the Port with his fleet, and prepared for the contest. 
The French vessels poured a brisk cannonade into the 
sides of the Spanish frigates and in a short time, their 
flags w^ere lowered, and the French were the conquer- 
ors. De Bienville continued firing upon the town, du- 
ring the whole of the night, and on the following mor- 
ning it surrendered to the enemy. There were twelve 
to fifteen hundred men, made prisoners of war, amongst 
whom were several ofiicers. The French dismantled a 



128 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

part of the fortifications, and left a small garrison, in 
charge of the remainder. 

It was after the termination of this war, that Louis 
XV., thought fit to commend in praiseworthy terms the 
conduct of those Canadians, who had served in Louis- 
iana. Whilst the Colonists, who had emigrated from 
France were always discontented at the state of things 
existing in that country, and were daily deserting to 
join the English, in the neighbouring colonies, the Ca- 
nadians remained faithful adherents to the French crown 
in America, and w^ere those, on whom chief reliance was 
placed, whenever it becam-e necessary to assume a hos- 
tile attitude either against internal or external foes. 
De Bienville, De Serigny, De St. Denis, De Yilinville 
and De Chateauguay wer-e Canadians by birth or by de- 
scent, and as it has alr-eady been shown, distinguished 
themselves on several occasions at very critical periods, 
in the French Colonial history of America, and were en- 
trusted by the French Government, with high and com- 
manding offices. Mr. Bancroft has paid them a well 
deserved compliment in his work on the History of the 
United States, and other writers have united, in giving 
them credit for the bravery they evinced, on several 
very trying occasions and for the intrepidity and daring, 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 129 

they manifested, either as pioneers in clearing the forest, 
or as warriors on the field of battle, De Serigny was 
named Captain of a French frigate ; St. Denis was 
made a member of the order of St. Louis, and De Chat- 
eauguay was placed in command of a garrison at St. 
Louis of Mobile. 

The contest was over ; the war between France and 
Spain was brought to a termination. Alberoni, dis- 
graced, was escorted by French troops to the confines of 
Italy^ where he ended his days in obscurity, after having 
embroiled Europe in all the horrors of war. Peace was 
declared on the 17th of February 1720, and the con- 
tending parties laid down their arms, in the Eastern and 
Western hemispheres, having abandoned all that each had 
acquired in the latter, during the war, including Pensa- 
cola, for the possession of which, such sanguinary con- 
tests had been waged, in the early periods of the cam- 
paign. Pensacola again became part of the Spanish 
domains, in America. 

This treaty of peace was soon followed by one with 
the Chickasas and the Natchez, who had taken advan- 
tage of the war to commit hostilities against Louisiana. 
The Colony was in a state of tranquillity, which it had 
not enjoyed for several years, when the people were 
again exposed to heavy disasters, arising from the effects 



130 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

of a terrific storm, which laid desolate many of the 
towns, and several habitations in different parts of the 
Colony. This occurred on the 12th of September 1722, 
and its effects were more seriously felt by the inhabit- 
ants of New Orleans and Biloxi, than elsewhere. They 
were obliged to re-build these Cities, which suffered so 
much, that scarcely a house was left standing. 

The year 1726 was the last one of De Bienville's ad- 
ministration, which had been rendered so difficult in 
consequence of the errors committed by Crozat, and the 
failure of Law's scheme. Notwithstanding these disad- 
vantages the Colonists had been able to contend success- 
fully against the aggressions of Spain and to preserve 
their possessions in America. De Bienville returned to 
France and was succeeded in the administration of the 
Government, by M. de Perrien At this period, there 
was a regular government organised in Louisiana, and 
it does not fall within the scope of this w^ork to detail 
minutely the events, that occurred during each success- 
ive administration. What had a direct tendency to pro- 
mote the cause of European colonization, along the 
shores of that river, (the history of the discovery of 
which was alone the object of this work) has been no- 
ticed, but it would occupy more space, than could be as- 
signed within the limits of this publication to give an 



i\ 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 131 

account, however succinct or brief it might be, of what 
followed, after the establishment of a regular govern- 
ment in Louisiana. 

There is, however, an event of some importance, 
which occurred during this period (1729,) which it 
w^ould not be right to pass over in silence. I allude to 
the " Natchez massacre." 

The " Western Company " had given place to the 
^^ Company of the Indies," which was established in 
1723, and of which the Duke of Orleans was made 
Governor. Their charter granted privileges, which ex- 
tended over different European possessions, in Asia, 
Africa and America, and whilst they exercised tempora- 
ry sovereignty, in various parts of the world, their la- 
bours in America seem, by all accounts, to have been 
productive of but little benefit to the Colonists. Indeed 
the little good, which the Western Company had been 
able to do, as far as the cause of colonization was con- 
cerned, might compare favorably with what appears to 
have been effected by the establishment of the Company 
of the Indies, in Louisiana. In the collisions, which 
frequently occurred, arising out of the division of the 
powers of government, the local administration of 
affairs in Louisiana, was considerably weakened, and 
the Indian tribes took advantage of it. 



132 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

Notwithstanding the Colonists thought that they had 
reduced the savages to a state of complete subjection, 
from the length of time, they had been at peace with 
each other, they were astonished to find, that a plot had 
been for some time in existence, either to exterminate 
them or drive them away from the Colony. Whilst we 
cannot but admire the efforts, which the aboriginal 
inhabitants of this Continent have made to preserve 
their sovereignty, w^hich was destined to fall before the 
march of progressive civilization, and w^hilst doubts 
might well be entertained as to the right of Europeans 
to dispossess them of the soil, without adequately re- 
munerating them, or giving them other hunting grounds, 
whereon to gain a precarious subsistence, nevertheless, 
this " Natchez massacre " may be regarded as such an 
act of perfidy and cruelty towards their French neigh- 
bours, as to entirely deprive them of sympathy. The 
blow was to be struck simultaneously throughout the 
Colony, and for the wrongs w^iich they thought they 
endured, their vengeance knew no limits. Every man, 
woman and child, were doomed to utter destruction, 
their habitations were to be razed to the ground, and 
not a vestige was to be left of French sovereignty in 
America. The French had always been on good terms 
with most of the Indian tribes, as the Illinois, the Ar- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 133 

kansas, and the Tonicas ; but the Iroquois and Chick- 
asas tribes had been their inveterate enemies. It has 
been said, by some writers, that the English Colonists 
in Carolina, and along the shores of the Atlantic, had 
sent secret emissaries amongst these tribes, to excite 
them to acts of hostility against the French, but I am 
inclined to doubt this assertion. The English, no doubt 
viewed with a jealous eye, the occupation of this coun- 
try by the French, from the shores of the Ohio, to the 
Gulf of Mexico, and it might have been their policy to 
give the Indian tribes, an unfavorable opinion of their 
French neighbours. But England was not then at war 
with France, and the English Colonists feared too much 
the hostile incursions of the Abenaquis, the Hurons and 
other tribes, in the neighbourhood of the French pos- 
sessions in the North, to excite the savages to pursue 
the same course, against the French Colonists, in the 
South. 

Whilst preparations were being made for the indis- 
criminate massacre of the Europeans in Louisiana, the 
latter were, for some time, not aware of the extent of 
the conspiracy against them. They had heard of the 
existence of the plot, but they feigned, that they were 
entirely ignorant of it. The day was approaching, when 

the axe was to be raised and the fatal tomahawk to be 

12 



134 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

used, to remove the scalps of so many of their country- 
men. M. de Chepar was in command at Natchez. Al- 
though that officer had had a few quarrels with the Indi- 
ans^ they so far concealed their enmity, and acted with 
such dissimulation, that they made him believe, they 
w^ere his friends, and De Chepar was so anxious to 
avoid giving them the least cause for apprehension, of 
a chano^e of his sentiments towards them, that he ac- 
tually imprisoned seven Frenchmen, who wished to arm 
themselves, to be protected against surprise. He ap- 
peared to be actuated by such blind fatality, as to allow 
sixty savages to enter the Fort, and to permit others to 
lodge with the Colonists, and even received some of 
them in his own house. This would hardly be believ- 
ed, w^ere it not that Charlevoix, a cotemporary historian 
positively asserts it. 

The conspirators were ready for action ; the day and 
the hour had been fixed, when the massacre was to be 
commenced, but the savages, who had now so far suc- 
ceeded, as to enter the Fort, and be in the midst of the 
Colonists, had their cupidity so much excited, by the 
arrival of barges, laden with rich merchandise, for the 
garrison, that they resolved to strike the blow at that 
moment, and not to await the expiration of the time, 
which had been fixed for the general massacre through- 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. l35 

out the country. This precipitation, whilst it was fatal 
to those Colonists, who were at Natchez, was the 
means of saving others in the West and South of Ameri- 
ca, from partial if not from total annihilation. 

In order that the conspirators at Natchez might get 
possession of fire-arms to effect their purpose, they 
feigned, that they were preparing for a hunting expedi- 
tion, to furnish game for ;the Commandant to treat his 
newly arrived guests. They obtained guns, and other 
munitions in the Fort, and on the 28th of November 
1729, they scattered themselves abroad, in the different 
houses of the inhabitants, taking care always to be in 
greater numbers than their victims, and remarking that 
they were going to hunt. They carried their dissimula- 
tion to such an extent, that they actually chanted a 
hymn in praise of M. de Chepar, when all at once 
there was silence, three shots of musketry were fired, 
which were the signals for a general onslaught. The 
savages rushed furiously on the French, and in this 
dreadful massacre, two hundred of them fell victims to 
the treachery and dissimulation of their perfidious ene- 
mies. But about twenty were saved, and one hundred 
and fifty children, and sixty women were made prison- 
ers. In this frightful encounter, there were instances of 
bravery, amongst the French, which Charlevoix has not 



136 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

failed to mention. M. de la Loire des Ursins killed four 
Indians by his own hand, and the clerks in his store 
bravely defended themselves, until the last man was 
killed. The Natchez lost only twelve men, in this 
affair, so well were all the preparations made for the 
general massacre. 

During the engagement, " the Sun," or the Chief of 
the Natchez was seated near a tobacco-warehouse,* be- 
longing to the Company of the Indies, awaiting patient- 
ly the termination of this tragedy. At intervals, the 
heads of those who had fallen, were brought and placed 
at his feet, amongst others, that of M. de Chepar, the 
person in command of the garrison. The bodies of the 
victims were suffered to remain without burial, and be- 
came the prey of vultures and dogs, whilst the women 
and children who had been taken prisoners, were exposed 
to the cruelty of these ferocious savages, and having 
suffered every indignity, were finally sent into the interi- 
or, to become the slaves of neighbouring tribes. 

Such was the massacre of the French, of the 28th of 
November 1729. The Abbe Raynal, gives a rather 
different account of this massacre, from that of Charle- 
voix — both however agree in the main facts, but I pre- 
fer the latter, for the reason, I have already assigned. 

• Some authors say, " on the roof of the tobacco warehouse." 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 137 

Of course, De Perrier exercised summary vengeance 
against the perpetrators of this horrid butchery. He 
notified the people, at the different French settlements 
to be on their guard, and sent an expedition against the 
Natchez, whom he compelled to surrender, and who 
with their Chief, " the Sun,^^ were sent into captivity. 

We have thus detailed, as we believe, almost every 
leading evont in the history of the discovery of the 
valley of the Mississippi, up to the passing of the Treaty 
of Aix la Chapelle in the year 1748. 

Shortly after this period, the leading events on this 
Continent have been mentioned, in connection with the 
name and services of our ancestors, the Anglo Ameri- 
cans, on the shores of the Atlantic. To their achieve- 
ments is the world indebted for the progress of that 
civilization, which is daily extending throughout the 
length and breadth of this Continent. To the heroic 
conduct and intrepid bearing of those men, who followed 
Colonel Pepperel to the gates of Louisbourg, was the 
Anglo Saxon of America, partly indebted for the expul- 
sion of the French from their strong-holds in this West- 
ern hemisphere, and to the still nobler conduct and glo- 
rious career of the "Father of his Country," was he 
indebted for their expulsion from the Valley of the 
Mississippi. Whilst the Treaty of Aix la Chapelle 

12* 



138 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

commemorates the achievements of the one, that of 
Fontainebleau, sheds glory and lustre on the actions of 
the other. Their memories will forever he cherished in 
the hearts of their countrymen, and their images, like 
those of the warriors of old, will be placed in the vesti- 
bule of the domestic sanctuary, there to remain, as me- 
morials of the past, and as an encouragement for the 
future. 



4 



THE FIRST INHABITANTS 

OF KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 

Prior to our arrival at Marietta, we met one of these 
settlers, an inhabitant of the environs of Wheehng, who 
accompanied us down the Ohio, and with whom we 
travelled for two days, alone in a canoe from eighteen to 
twenty feet long, and from twelve to fifteen inches broad, 
he was going to survey the borders of the Missouri, for 
a hundred and fifty miles beyond its embouchure. The 
excellent quality of the land, that is reckoned to be 
more fertile there, than that on the borders of the Ohio, 
and which the Spanish Government, at that time, order- 
ed to be distributed gratis, the quantity of bears, elks, 
and more especially bisons, were the motives that in- 
duced him to emigrate into this remote part of the 
country, whence, after having determined on a suitable 
spot to settle there with his family, he was returning to 
fetch them from the borders of the Ohio, which obliged 
him to take a journey of fourteen or fifteen hundred 
miles ; his costume like that of all the American sports- 
men, consisted of a waistcoat with sleeves, a pair of 

pantaloons, and a large red and yellow worsted sash, a 

139 



140 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

carbine, a tomahawk or little axe, which the Indians 
make use of to cut wood and to terminate the existence 
of their enemies, two beaver snares and a large knife, 
suspended at his side, constituted his sporting dress. A 
rug comprised the whole of his baggage. Every evening 
he encamped on the banks of the river, where after hav- 
ing made a fire, he passed the night ; and whenever he 
conceived the place favorable for the chase, he remainad 
in the woods for several days together, and with the 
produce of his sport, he gained the means of subsistence, 
and new ammunition, with the skins of the animals that 
he had killed. 

Such were the first inhabitants of Kentucky and 
Tennessee, of whom there are now remaining but very 
few. It was they, who began to clear those fertile 
countries, and wrested them from the savages, who 
ferociously disputed their right ; it was they, in short, 
who made themselves masters of the possessions, after 
five or six years bloody war; but the habit of a wander- 
ing and idle life has prevented their enjoying the fruit 
of their labours, and profiting by the very price, to 
which these lands have risen in so short a time. They 
have emigrated to more remote parts of the country and 
formed new settlements. It will be the same with most 
of those, who inhabit the borders of the Ohio. The 



OP THE MISSISSIPPI. 141 

same inclination that led them there, will induce them 
to emigrate from it. To the latter will succeed fresh 
emigrants, coming also from the Atlantic States, who 
w^ill desert their possessions to go in quest of a milder 
climate and a more fertile soil. The money, that they 
will get for them will suffice to pay for their new acqui- 
sitions, the security of which will be assured by a nu- 
merous population. The last comers instead of log 
houses, with which the present inhabitants are content- 
ed, will build wooden ones, clear a greater quantity of 
the land, and be as industrious and persevering in the 
amelioration of their new possessions, as the former 
were indolent of every thing, being so fond of hunting. 
To the culture of Indian corn, they will add that of 
other grain, hemp and tobacco; rich pasturages wall 
nourish innumerable flocks, and an advantageous sale of 
all the country's produce will be assured them, through 
the channel of the Ohio. 

The happy situation of this river entitles it to be 
looked upon as the centre of commercial activity be- 
tween the Eastern and Western States. By it, the 
latter receive the manufactured goods, which Europe, 
India and the Caribbees supply the former ; and it is the 
only open communication with the ocean, for the expor- 
tation of provisions from the immense and fertile parts 



142 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI, 

of the United States, comprised between the Alleghany 
mountains, the lakes and the left banks of the Missis- 
sippi. 

All these advantages, blended wdth the salubrity of 
the climate and the beauty of the landscapes, enlivened 
in the spring by a group of boats, which the current 
whirls along with astonishing rapidity, and the uncom- 
mon number of sailing vessels, that from the bosom of 
this vast continent go directly to the Caribbees ; all 
these advantages, I say, make me think, that the banks 
of the Ohio from Pittsburg to Louisville inclusively, 
will in the course of twenty years, be the most popu- 
lous and commercial part of the United States, and 
where I should settle, in preference to any other. 

(F. A. Michaud, Travels on the Ohio, etc, 8 vo. Lon- 
don, 1805.) 



II 



^ 



AN AMERICAN BACKWOODSMAN, 

DURING THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Throughout all this country, and in every back 
settlement, in America, the roads and paths are first 
marked out by blazees on the trees, cut alternately on 
each side of the way, every thirty or forty yards ; these 
are removed every time the roads are repaired. A blazee 
is a large chip sliced off the side of a tree with an axe ; 
it is above twelve inches in length, cut through the bark 
and some of the sap wood, and by its white appearance 
and brightness when fresh made, serves to direct the 
way in the night as well as in the day. 

The miles are chiefly computed and are ascertained by 
notches, chopped in the nearest tree ; a notch for every 
mile. The first blazeed paths originated in this manner, 
when any person went from one place to another through 
the woods, where it would have been difficult if not im- 
possible, to return upon his track, he fell upon this 
method of blazing each side of the trees, at certain dis- 
tances, as he passed on, and thereby retraced his way 
in returning without the least trouble. 

143 



144 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

The convenience and simplicity of this mode has ren- 
dered it universal, throughout the whole back country. 

It became the more readily adopted as all who travel 
beyond the roads and beaten tracks, always have a 
tomahawk to their belts ; which in such situations and 
circumstances, are more useful than anything, except 
the rifle-barrelled firelocks, both of which all the male 
inhabitants habituate themselves constantly to carry 
along with them everywhere. 

Their whole dress is also very singular, and not very 
materially different from that of the Indians ; being a 
hunting shirt, somewhat resembling a wagoner's frock, 
ornamented with a great many fringes, tied round the 
middle with a broad belt, much decorated also, in which 
is fastened a tomahawk, an instrument, that serves every 
purpose of defence and convenience ; being a hammer at 
one side, and a sharp hatchet at the other ; the shot bag 
and powder horn, carved with a variety of whimsical 
figures and devices, hang from their necks over one 
shoulder ; and on their heads, a flapped hat, of a red- 
ish hue, proceeding from the intensely hot beams of the 
sun. 

Sometimes they wear leather breeches, made of Indian 
dressed elk, or deer skins, but more frequently thin trow- 
sers. On their legs, thev have Indian boots or leggings, 



1 

I 

I 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 145 

made of coarse woollen cloth, that are either wrapped 
round loosely and tied with garters, or are laced upon the 
out-side, and always come better than half way up the 
thigh ; these are a great defence and preservative, not 
only against the bite of serpents and poisonous insects 
but likewise against the scratches of thorns, briars, 
scrubby bushes and underwood, with which this whole 
country is infested and overspread. On their feet, they 
sometimes wear light shoes of their own manufacture, 
but generally Indian moccasins of their own construc- 
tion alsO; which are made of strong elk's or buckskins, 
dressed soft as for gloves or breeches, drawn together 
in regular plaits over the toe, and lacing from thence 
round to the fore -part of the middle of the ancle, with- 
out a seam in them, yet fitting close to the feet, and 
are indeed perfectly easy and pliant. 

Thus habited and accoutred, with his rifle upon his 
shoulder or in his hand, a backwoodsman is completely 
equipped for visiting, courting, travelling, hunting or 
war. And according to the number and variety of the 
fringes on his hunting shirt, and the decorations on his 
powder horn, belt and rifle, he estimates his finery, and 
absolutely conceives himself of equal consequence, more 
civilized, polite and more elegantly dressed, than the 

most brilliant Peer at the Court of St. James', in a 

13 



146 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

splendid and expensive birth-day suit, of the first fash- 
ion and taste and most costly materials. Their hunting 
or rifle shirts, they have also dyed in a variety of colors, 
some yellow, others red, some brown and many wear 
them quite white. 

Thus attired and accoutred, as already described, 
set him in the midst of a boundless forest, a thousand 
miles from an inhabitant, he is by no means at a loss, 
nor in the smallest degree dismayed. With his rifle, he 
procures his subsistence ; with his tomahawk he erects 
his shelter, his wigwam his house, or whatever habita- 
tion, he may choose to reside in ; he drinks at the 
chrystal spring or the nearest brook ; his wants are all 
easily supplied, he is contented, he is happy ! For felici- 
ty beyond doubt, consists in a great measure, in the 
attainment and gratification of our desires, and the ac- 
complishment of the utmost bounds of our wishes. 

(J. F. D. Smyth, Tour in the United States, etc. 
2 vols. 12 mo. Dublin, 1784.) 



I 



FIRST SETTLEMENT 

OF THE 

STATE OF OHIO. 

The first purchase of land in the State of Ohio, 
after the Indian title was extinguishedj was made by the 
Ohio company. On the 27th of November, 1787, Con- 
gress made and executed a contract with the agents of 
the Ohio company, for the sale of one million and a half 
of acres, at the price of one million of dollars, to be 
paid for in final settlement securities. This tract, was 
bounded on the east by a line called the seventh range 
which had been previously run ; southerly on the Ohio 
river ; westerly on the seventeenth range of townships, 
and to extend so far north, that a line running east to 
the first boundary, should contain, exclusive of the res- 
ervations, the quantity of land contracted for. 

The first regular settlement of this State commenced 
in the year 1789. A party of about sixty men from 
New-England, under the superintendence of General 
Rufus Putnam, and hired and paid by the company, ar- 
rived at the mouth of the Muskingum on the 7th of 
April, and immediately began to clear the land on the 
eastern side of the river. In the month of August, 

147 



148 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

eight families had arrived, who inhabited the temporary 
buildings, erected for their accommodation, on that pleas- 
ant and commanding situation, where the beautiful and 
thriving town of Marietta now stands. In the course 
of the autumn more arrived, so that, at the beginning 
of June, 1790, there w^ere twenty families on the 
ground. 

It was the intention of this company, among whom 
were many of the officers of the revolutionary army, to 
have made a rapid settlement, but the Indians beginning 
to commit depredations, checked the emigration from 
the Atlantic States. In the winter of 1791, several 
persons in the out settlements were killed, and others 
taken prisoners. The people w^ere obliged to erect 
posts of defence at Bellepre and at Wolf Creek. Ma- 
rietta was strongly stockaded, and the inhabitants lived 
in a garrison state, until after the victory gained by 
General Wayne, on the 20th of August, 1794, 

Soon after the Ohio company had made this purchase, 
another contract was made with Congress by Col. John 
C. Symmes, for a tract of land supposed to contain 
about one million of acres, lying within the following 
limits : beginning at the mouth of the Great Miami 
river, and thence running up the Ohio to the mouth of 
the Little Miami river ; thence up the main stream of 



I 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 149 

the Little Miami to the place where a due west line, to 
be continued from the western termination of the north- 
ern boundary line of the grant made to the Ohio com- 
pany, shall intersect the said Little Miami river ; thence 
due west, continuing the said western line to the Great 
Miami river ; thence down the Great Miami to the place 
of beginning. 

Settlements commenced in the autumn of 1789, on 
this tract, under the direction of Col. Sy mines, princi- 
pally by emigrations from the State of New Jersey. 
But the settlers here were subjected to embarrassment 
similar to those of the Ohio company, in consequence 
of the Indian war. The settlement made little proo-ress 
until after the conquest of General Wayne, and the 
treaty with the Indians, in the succeeding year. 

Not long after the commencement of these settle- 
ments, another of considerable magnitude was begun, on 
a tract of land, called the Connecticut Reservation, 
situated on the north-east corner of the State, and boun- 
ded east by the Pennsylvania line, on the north by Lake 
Erie, and extending westward as far as Sandusky lake. 
These settlers came principally from the State of Con- 
necticut. 

These were the first settlements undertaken on a large 
scale, within the limits of the State of Ohio, but made 

13* 



150 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

little progress until after the close of the Indian 
war. 

Another very considerable settlement commenced, in 
1796, on a tract of land, called the Virginia Reserva- 
tion, situated between the Scioto and Little Miami riv- 
ers. This land was located by army warrants, granted 
originally to the troops of the Virginia line of the revo- 
lutionary army. A part of the settlers w^ere from Vir- 
ginia, but far the greatest number from the State of 
Kentucky. The town of Chillicothe was began in the 
autumn of this year (1796,) and so rapid was the in- 
crease of inhabitants that it was made an incorporate 
town in about five years. The Territorial Assembly of 
the representatives of the people convened in this town 
for several years, and it continued the seat of govern- 
ment until 1809, when, by an act of Assembly, it was 
moved to Zanesville on the river Muskingum. 

On the 13th of April, 1802, the people were author- 
ized, by an act of Congress, to form a constitution an I 
State government, and were accordingly admitted into 
the Union upon the same footing with the original 
States. Bv the same act, the boundaries of the State 
were established on the following lines, viz : ^' Begin- 
ning on the east by the Pennsylvania line ; on the south 
by the Ohio river to the mouth of the Great Miami 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 151 

river ; on the west by a line drawn due north from the 
mouth of the Great Miami ; and on the north by an 
east and west line drawn through the southerly extremes 
of lake Michigan,, running east, after intersecting the 
due north line aforesaid, from the north of the Great 
Miami, until it shall intersect lake Erie, or the territori- 
al line, and thence with the same through lake Erie, to 
the Pennsylvania line aforesaid." 



CINCINNATI AT THE COMMENCEMENT 

OF THE 

PRESENT CENTUKY. 

" Cincinnati is handsomely situated on a first and 
second bank of the Ohio, opposite Licking river. It is a 
flourishing town, has a rich, level, and well settled 
country around it. It contains about four hundred 
dwellings, an elegant court house, jail, three market 
houses, a land office for the sale of Congress lands, two 
printing offices issuing weekly Gazettes, thirty mercan- 
tile stores, and the various branches of mechanism are 



152 HISTORY OP THE VALLEY 

carried on with spirit. Industry of every kind being 
duly encouraged by the citizens, Cincinnati is likely to 
become a considerable manufacturing place. It is eigh- 
ty-two miles north by east from Frankfort, and about 
three hundred and eighty by land south southwest from 
Pittsburgh, north latitude thirty-nine degrees, five min- 
utes, fifty-four seconds, according to Mr. Ellicot, and 
west longitude eighty-five degrees, forty-four minutes. 
It is the principal town in what is called Symmes's pur- 
chase, and is the seat of justice for what is called Ham- 
ilton county, Ohio. It has a bank issuing notes under 
the authority of the State, called The Miami Exporting 
company. The healthiness and salubrity of the cli- 
mate ; the levelness and luxuriance of the soil ; the pu- 
rity and excellence of the waters, added to the blessings 
attendant on the judicious administration of mild and 
equitable laws ; the great security in the land titles ; all 
seem to centre in a favourable point of expectation, that 
Cincinnati and the country around it, must one day be- 
come rich and very populous, equal perhaps, if not su- 
perior to any other place of an interior in the United 
States. The site of Fort Washington is near the centre 
of the town. It was a principal frontier post ; it is 
now laid out in town lots. A considerable trade is 
carried on between Cincinnati and New Orleans in keel 



OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 153 

boats, which return laden with foreign goods. The 
passage of a boat of forty tons down to New Orleans 
is computed at about twenty -five, and its return to Cin- 
cinnati at about sixty-five days." 

(Topographical description of the Ohio, &c., anony- 
mous, 12 mo. 1812.) 



SAINT LOUIS 

AT THE COMMENCEMENT 

OF THE PRESENT CENTURY. 

'* Fifteen miles below the mouth of the Missouri, is 
Saint Louis, delightfully situated on elevated ground, 
upon the bank of the Mississippi. It is considered to 
be the most healthy and pleasant situation known in 
this part of the country. The settlement of this vil- 
lage was began by a few French people, who came over 
from the east side of the river, about the year 1765. 
It became the residence of the Spanish Commandant, 
and of the principal Indian traders. The trade of the 
Indians on the Missouri, part of the Mississippi, and 
Illinois, was chiefly drawn to this village. Before the 



154 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY 

purchase of Louisiana by the United States, it contained 
one hundred and twenty houses, mostly built of stone, 
but large and commodious dwellings. It contained 
about eight hundred inhabitants, who were mostly 
French. Since this purchase was made, numbers have 
emigrated to this village from different parts of the 
United States. There are now more than two hundred 
houses, a post office, and a printing office, issuing a 
Weekly Gazette. There are many mercantile stores, 
and a flourishing trade in furs and peltry. It is made 
the seat of territorial government for Upper Louisiana. 



3> 



NATCHEZ AT THE COMMENCEMENT 

OF THE 

"The city of Natchez is about one hundred and 
twenty miles below the Walnut hills. It is situated on 
an extremely elevated bank, which recedes from the 
river, with a very moderate descent. Fronting the 
river, the blulF is nearly perpendicular, and two hundred 



155 HISTORY OF THE VALLEY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 

feet in height, from the surface of the water. Between 
the base of the bluff and the river, is a space which is 
level, about six hundred feet wide ; it is used for land- 
ing ; and is spread over with dwellings, trading houses 
and shops. From this little village a road is dug out, 
in a zigzag form, to the summit of the bank. The city 
is built at some distance from the edge of the precipice, 
leaving a space for a handsome common. It contains 
more than three hundred houses, mostly frame, and one 
story high. Some of those more recently erected are 
two story and in a handsome style. The houses generally 
are commodiously constructed for transacting busi- 
ness, and the free admission of air in the hot season. 
The prospect from the city is delightful ; commanding 
an extensive view of the river in both directions. There 
are two printing offices, issuing weekly papers ; a post 
office, receiving a mail once a week ; several mercantile 
houses, and a large number of smaller stores and shops. 
Great quantities of cotton, indigo, tobacco, and other 
commodities, are annually shipped from this city, where 
the accumulation of wealth is pursued with industry and 
ardour. It is a port of entry, and ships of four hundred 
tons can come up from New Orleans, which is about 
three hundred miles, without any other obstruction than 
the strength of the current." 

END. 



*1 



li 



